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
Meat the moment with valor: Veteran cattle rancher deploys co-op model to save the Midwest cowboy
WESTON, Mo. — Almost a decade after launching KC Cattle Company — his veteran-owned and -operated wagyu beef company — Patrick Montgomery is forging a new path to help fellow ranchers and farmers survive. He’s now digging his spurs into Valor Provisions, a direct-to-consumer online marketplace offering premium proteins from small, independent, veteran-owned ranches like…
Student-raised meats graduate to university storefront as consumers look closer at what makes the cut
WARRENSBURG, Mo. — A new partnership puts pork chops, brats and select cuts from across farming projects at the University of Central Missouri in a retail storefront accessible to community members shopping for locally raised meat. UCM Farms — which spans more than 1,000 acres of farm ground within 10 miles of campus — is…
Nonprofit founder, tech people leader join Kauffman as trustees on shared mission: economic inclusivity
The year-long transformation of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation continues this week as the influential philanthropic organization announced two new trustees meant to bolster its rebooted grantmaking strategy and commitment to driving equitable economic mobility in Kansas City. Newly appointed leaders to the Kauffman Foundation’s Board of Trustees, Aimée Eubanks Davis and Kristen Ludgate bring…
No cookie-cutter way to create an entrepreneur, so what’s the catalyst? Inside KU’s venture test lab
Editor’s note: The University of Kansas’ School of Business is a partner of Startland News. It’s a practical testing ground for KU students to flex their entrepreneurial muscles, Ryan Rains said, describing a business program built for could-be entrepreneurs who aren’t necessarily even business majors — and who, ultimately, might choose to abandon their concept…