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
KC innovator’s anti-itch spray so natural it was discovered on a front porch lab
Homindy founder Ronan Molloy discovered the benefits of his company’s itch relief spray somewhat by accident. During the summer of 2020, Molloy volunteered to participate in a clinical study for a tea with all-natural ingredients that was supposed to reduce inflammation in his right knee. At that time, he was president of the Innovation Stockyard,…
KC capital implants cattle tech startup with fuel to scale, expanding IVF labs, headcount
Livestock production has seen a remarkable transformation since Kerryann Kocher was growing up on her family’s sixth-generation farm in northeast Iowa, the Vytelle CEO said. Instead of just selecting the cow that looks best and bringing in the neighbor’s bull for breeding, as she remembers it, Kocher and Vytelle — a Kansas City-based precision livestock…
Venture experts: Getting your first check in KC is too difficult, but a record influx of coastal investors isn’t a bad substitute
A new report on Kansas City’s venture-backed companies showed year-over-year growth in multiple areas — impressing industry experts who identified key investment trends in the data. More companies with venture capital backing; higher employee counts; a 58 percent boost in fundraising. Yet growth was not universal. Despite gains in top-line figures, the number of Kansas City-based…
RX Savings Solutions sale would see the startup acquired for up to $875M in KC’s biggest-ever exit
The McKesson Corporation has agreed to purchase Overland Park-prescribed Rx Savings Solutions in a deal worth nearly $1 billion. McKesson announced Monday that it had entered into an agreement with the prescription pricing startup valued at up to $875 million — more than double the $425 million price tag for which Kansas City-built Backlot Cars…