Oriel Therapeutics has received a $26.5 million commitment from a group of venture capital firms to develop drugs that will use the company's patented inhaler technology.

The six-year-old Research Triangle Park company expects to begin testing its first medicine in humans by the end of next year, CEO Paul Atkins said. He declined to disclose details about the drug.

The money also will enable the privately held company, which has eight employees, to expand to about 15 full-time workers by the end of next year.

"It's an exciting time for us," said Atkins. "We're at a point where we have a clear focus of what we want to do -- and we have the money to do it."

A New York venture capital firm, New Leaf Venture Partners, led a consortium of venture capital funds that are financing Oriel's development.

"Respiratory diseases, particularly asthma and chronic lung disease, continue to increase," said James Niedel, a New Leaf managing director who was named to Oriel's board of directors. "There is an increased medical need."

Niedel is a former chief science and technology officer at GlaxoSmithKline.

While at the drug maker, Niedel got to know Atkins, who before joining Oriel was director of respiratory delivery systems for the pharmaceutical giant.

"Paul and I worked together for more than 10 years," Niedel said. "Over that time, you get to know somebody's abilities and work ethic. Paul gets high marks."

The new funding is an endorsement of Oriel's new strategy.

Oriel, founded in 2001, licensed its initial inhaler technology from UNC-Chapel Hill. The company began as a medical device company developing inhalers that could be used in conjunction with other companies' drugs. But last year, Oriel changed course and decided to develop its own drugs for its inhalers.

"We decided: Why not do it on our own and be in control of our own destiny?" Atkins said.

The company's inhalers work with dry-powder medicine, as does GSK's blockbuster asthma drug Advair.

Unlike traditional inhalers that rely on a person's lung power to deliver the medicine to the lungs -- "You suck the powder out," said Atkins -- Oriel's inhalers use an electrical signal that triggers vibrations.

Think of it "like almost a fountain of powder," said Atkins. "It sort of bubbles out."

Oriel's latest funding marks the first time it has raised money from venture capital firms. The company previously raised $2 million from corporate investors.

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