San Diego’s cAMPfield Therapeutics is jumping into the inflammatory bowel disease arena with a serious bankroll, unveiling a $180 million Series A to move its once‑daily oral drug into clinical testing. The company says the cash is enough to fund global Phase 2 studies in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis as it chases a better‑tolerated pill in a space still ruled by injectable biologics.
Series A Backed By Top Investors
In a press release from cAMPfield Therapeutics, the startup said the round was led by San Francisco’s Frazier Life Sciences, with Deep Track Capital, Forbion, Abingworth, Venrock, Longitude Capital, Novo Holdings and RA Capital also on board. Mountainfield Venture Partners founded cAMPfield and pulled together a leadership team that includes veterans of Entyvio, Otezla and other inflammatory bowel disease programs. The investor thesis is straightforward: if a well‑tolerated oral therapy can match or beat current options, it could grab a meaningful slice of an IBD market still heavily dependent on injectables.
Where The Drug Came From
cAMPfield’s lead candidate, prifemilast (also known as HPP737 or HY1999), started life at vTv Therapeutics and was later licensed by China‑based Newsoara. cAMPfield has now secured exclusive rights to the drug outside Greater China. Public materials from vTv Therapeutics indicate the compound advanced into later‑stage testing after the Newsoara licensing deal.
Clinical Record And The Company’s Pitch
The company reports that prifemilast has already been given to more than 700 people, including over 250 participants who received the drug for 52 weeks, and says it delivered “robust efficacy” in a Phase 3 plaque psoriasis trial, according to cAMPfield Therapeutics. Prifemilast is designed as a selective inhibitor of PDE4B rather than PDE4D, a distinction cAMPfield argues might sidestep the dose‑limiting side effects seen with earlier drugs in the class. “Despite the availability of more than a dozen approved therapies for IBD, most patients fail to achieve deep and durable remission,” CEO Bill Gerhart said in the announcement.
Market Stakes
Analysts peg the global IBD treatment market at about $22.38 billion in 2025, with expectations it will grow to roughly $32.46 billion by 2035, according to Precedence Research. In the United States alone, more than 3.1 million people are estimated to be living with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, per Grand View Research.
Next Steps
cAMPfield plans to deploy its Series A haul on a global Phase 2b trial in moderate‑to‑severe ulcerative colitis and a global Phase 2 trial in Crohn’s disease, positioning prifemilast as a once‑daily oral alternative to existing therapies. Those trial plans and the financing details were outlined by CityBiz. The company is casting the program as a chance to bring a more convenient option into a field where many patients still cycle through multiple treatments.
How This Drug Could Be Different
Earlier PDE4 inhibitors showed they could tamp down inflammation but were held back by side effects linked to PDE4D inhibition and brain penetration. cAMPfield and its backers say prifemilast’s engineered selectivity for PDE4B and its pharmacokinetic profile may help blunt those issues. Public pipeline documents from vTv Therapeutics describe HPP737’s profile and the scientific rationale for going after PDE4B in inflammatory conditions.
With $180 million in fresh capital, investors are making a sizable wager that a cleaner oral PDE4 inhibitor can claim space alongside injectables and newer oral agents. The next chapter will unfold as cAMPfield launches its trials and begins sharing enrollment updates along with early safety and tolerability data over the coming 12 to 24 months.
