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
Coffee for the culture: Porter House KC founders partner with Messenger to craft Black-owned coffee brand
Black Drip Coffee brewed from within a desire to bring coffee culture to historically disenfranchised and underserved communities, said Charon Thompson and Daniel Smith. “It’s more than coffee,” noted Smith, who co-founded the brand, Black Drip Coffee, as well as the Porter House KC with Thompson. “We always talk about breaking down barriers and creating…
Founded to sell: Emerging KC tech firm led by startup veterans announces $725K funding round
A Kansas City startup’s initial funding round is expected to help small businesses close more deals, faster, said Scott Hansen. LeadSigma, a powerful and easy-to-use sales engagement platform, has raised a $725,000 family and friends round, Hansen, co-founder of LeadSigma, announced Friday. The round included prominent opinion leaders and agency owners in targeted SMB verticals,…
KCK couple fuels road adventures as camper van rentals speed up, interest in RV life surges
Adventurers Spencer and Sarah Martin dreamed of owning a camper van for several years, they shared, but expenses and full-time jobs came as roadblocks. “I’m a science educator, and she’s a school nurse,” noted Spencer Martin. “Camper vans are expensive and then sit unused for a majority of the year, so it had always been…
Spot of tee: How a KC teacher scored big when Ted Lasso sported a ‘Joearthur Gatestack’ shirt
The story behind a Kansas City-designed T-shirt celebrating local barbecue culture has more meat to it than any given ’que joint’s combo platter, Brendan Curran said. “We met playing basketball in the eighth grade,” Curran, founder of local apparel company, Three KC, said of his childhood friend, Jason Sudeikis, Overland Park-native, actor, comedian, and current…