Pittsboro's Biolex raises $10 million

A Pittsboro biotechnology company using a genetically engineered pond plant to develop an experimental treatment for hepatitis C now has more money for its mission.

Biolex Therapeutics raised $10 million from its existing investors, the private company reported in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company, which scrapped plans in 2008 for an initial public offering of stock, raised $60 million from venture capital investors in fall 2008.

The money will be used to continue clinical testing of its Locteron treatment for hepatitis C. Biolex produces the active ingredient of Locteron using Lemna, an aquatic plant also known as duckweed.

Company officials, including CEO Jan Turek, are scheduled to present interim results from Locteron clinical trials at an April liver conference in Vienna, Austria. The drug will require additional testing before Biolex can seek regulatory approval.

Biolex also is using its technology of genetically modifying duckweed to develop experimental drugs to dissolve blood clots and to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.