Rockwell Medical, a biopharmaceutical company, announced today that it closed a $20 million debt financing with Hercules Technology Growth Capital.

“This $20 million straight-debt financing coupled with our recent $40 million equity financing provides us with sufficient cash to get SFP to commercial launch,” stated Rob Chioini, founder, chairman and CEO of Rockwell Medical. “We are on schedule to release Phase 3 efficacy data for CRUISE-1 and look forward to those study results.”

Hercules Technology Growth Capital is a specialty finance company focused on providing senior secured loans to venture capital-backed companies in technology-related markets, including technology, biotechnology, life science and clean-tech industries at all stages of development.

Rockwell is conducting two pivotal Phase 3 efficacy studies called CRUISE-1 and CRUISE-2. Each study is a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter study to demonstrate efficacy and safety of SFP-iron, delivered via dialysate, in adult CKD patients requiring hemodialysis. Each study comprises approximately 300 patients, randomized equally between SFP and placebo groups with a treatment period of up to 12 months. The primary efficacy end-point for both studies is the mean change in hemoglobin from baseline.

SFP is a unique iron compound that is delivered to the hemodialysis patient via dialysate, replacing the 5-7 mg of iron lost during a dialysis treatment.

Rockwell Medical is a fully-integrated biopharmaceutical company targeting end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) with innovative products and services for the treatment of iron deficiency, secondary hyperparathyroidism and hemodialysis.