LPOXY initiates $28M Series A financing with 5 Horizons Ventures to fund pivotal trial
September 4, 2025 | Startland News Staff
PLATTE CITY, Mo. — Funding to secure the upcoming trial of a Missouri biopharmaceutical company’s solution for preventing a deadly gut infection could prove critical in the fight against a condition that claims 80 U.S. lives daily, said Dr. Larry Sutton.
LPOXY Therapeutics, which is developing a novel non-antibiotic therapy to prevent Clostridioides difficile infections (Cdiff), announced Wednesday it has signed a term sheet with 5Horizons Ventures, a life science venture capital firm focused on innovative healthcare solutions in support of a $28 million Series A financing.
Elevator pitch: LPOXY Therapeutics is transforming infection prevention with a first-in-class oral therapeutic aimed at preventing C. difficile colitis, a CDC-designated urgent public health threat that kills over 80 Americans every day. Our unique approach delivers oxygen directly to the gut, creating an environment hostile to C. difficile bacteria without using antibiotics.
The agreement facilitates the formation of an investment syndicate to fund LPOXY’s registrational STOP-Cdiff (SIDIPREV Trial On Prevention of C. difficile Infections) clinical trial.
“5 Horizons Ventures’ commitment marks a major milestone for LPOXY as we move toward launching our pivotal STOP-Cdiff trial,” said Sutton, CEO and co-founder of LPOXY, one of Startland News’ 10 Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2025. “SIDIPREV represents a novel approach to infection prevention that not only addresses a deadly unmet need but also aligns with hospital economics by reducing costly complications within fixed DRG payments.”
ICYMI: LPOXY Therapeutics punches back at gut infection (and a foe with a billion-year head start)
The upcoming trial is designed under the FDA’s Limited Population Pathway for Antibacterial and Antifungal Drugs guidance and is intended to serve as the registrational study for SIDIPREV™, a therapy that aims to prevent life-threatening Cdiff in high-risk hospitalized patients. C. difficile is categorized by the CDC as an urgent public health threat that kills 80 Americans every day.
SIDIPREV is an orally administered, enteric-coated capsule that releases a metered dose of oxygen into the lower gastrointestinal tract, creating an environment hostile to anaerobic pathogens like C. difficile. Oxygen also suppresses toxin production and has mucosal anti-inflammatory effects.
As planned, STOP-Cdiff is a randomized, placebo-controlled superiority trial that will evaluate the efficacy and safety of SIDIPREV in approximately 500 hospitalized patients at elevated risk for Cdiff due to age and antibiotic exposure. LPOXY aims to launch the trial in Q3 2026 and file for approval in 2029.
“We’re impressed by the LPOXY team, their data, and their clear-eyed strategy for succeeding where many anti-infective programs have struggled,” said Paul Ferguson, partner and CFO of 5 Horizons Ventures. “SIDIPREV avoids the reimbursement and resistance-related hurdles that have plagued traditional antibiotics, making this a rare opportunity to unlock real economic value for patients, hospitals, and investors.”
LPOXY is actively building its investment syndicate and is in discussions with other institutional investors aligned with its late-stage clinical strategy.
2025 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
PHKC earns more state funding for 811 Retail Incubator; MTC boosting small biz
Another round of financial support from the Missouri Technology Corporation proves state economic development leaders understand that innovation also runs along main street, said Dan Smith. The Porter House KC — which just opened its 811 Retail Incubator in late July — is among seven entities just awarded a total of $1.8 million in Physical Infrastructure…
MTC just awarded $2.6M in investments; three KC tech startups earn state backing
As Advoteck works to bring its app to market later this year, an equity investment from the Missouri Technology Corporation is expected to help the Kansas City-based startup expand its reach nationwide in the fight against cyber crime. MTC on Tuesday announced $2.6 million in investments across seven Missouri companies — primarily focused on fostering…
KC Chamber, businesses: We won’t back down from DEI initiatives; city’s top diversity advocates honored
LeAna Flores knows those three little letters — DEI — can trigger a lot of people these days, she said. “For me, as a DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) practitioner, I live and breathe by this quote — especially in the climate that we have right now — ‘They tried to bury us, but they…
‘We are each other’s bootstraps’: Pay-It-Forward cafe says pressure to serve neighbors is back
The reopening of Thelma’s Kitchen — a pay-it-forward restaurant on Troost Avenue — not only flips the menu on the “soup kitchen” concept, but serves as an anchor of compassionate, community-focused care in the face of neighborhood gentrification, said Father Justin Mathews. “We view what we’re doing here as kind of like urban acupressure,” said…