Doctors help fund Entegrion

RTP biotech firm has raised $5 million; first product could appear this year

Entegrion, a biotechnology company in Research Triangle Park, has raised $3.7 million in private financing, the company announced Friday. The money was raised mostly from doctors in Tallahassee, Fla.

This financing round gives Entegrion's more than 100 private investors, many of them North Carolina physicians. The company has raised a total of $5 million this round and expects to announce the closing of the remainder within two months, said Stan Eskridge, Entegrion's co-founder, chief executive and president.

The money will be used to support advancement of Entegrion's wound dressing and hemorrhage control products. Entegrion is developing treatments for battlefield use as well as in the U.S. and foreign health-care markets. The four-year-old company expects to bring its first product to market this year -- an advanced wound dressing called AlphaBandage that induces blood clotting to stop bleeding.

With products now in the pipeline, Entegrion may not have to raise any more money before it starts generating revenue, Eskridge said. The company has eight full-time employees and one part-timer. The company could hire several physicians but does not plan a major expansion.

Since its creation in 2003, Entegrion has raised about $10 million, most of that coming from North Carolina, Eskridge said. As part of its funding, the company has also received $2 million in grants from Congress channeled through the U.S. Navy.

Entegrion was spun out of UNC-Chapel Hill. One product in development is Stasix, a substance made from human blood platelets that is designed to be injected into the bloodstream to reduce internal bleeding.

The company's products build on blood research at UNC-Chapel Hill and more recently at East Carolina University.