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
‘Follow the Leader’: Brothers bootstrapping horror movie set in abandoned KC-area mall
Not enough films are being shot in Kansas City, said brothers Ben and Jacob Burghart. “The bigger problem is not enough feature films are utilizing Kansas City’s vast talent pool,” said Jacob. “[Kansas City is trying to] shoot more now, but we want to be a part of kind of kicking into another gear.”…
#MomFund: Unruh Furniture builds more than tables inside a century-old church off KC’s Main Street
A table can mean stability, said Sam Unruh, founder of Unruh Furniture. It’s four legs help provide the emotional support for a home. “Growing up, my family ate together every night at the table. We all had our spots and still do to this day,” said Unruh, whose custom, made-to-order furniture business operates out of…
Second Edison Spaces flexible office site designed for uncertainty of startup life
Growing a startup is risky enough, said Matt Druten, co-founder of Edison Spaces — entrepreneurs shouldn’t have to worry about finding and maintaining an office. “Changes are unexpected. Nobody really knows where their company is going to be in six months,” he said. “Is my startup going to double in size? Is it going to…
Digital Crossroads: Techstars sees hints of KC’s future in its history as a collision point of ideas
Techstars’ Oct. 11 programming during Techweek Kansas City finds inspiration in the past, Lesa Mitchell said, but it focuses on the metro’s future at a digital crossroads. “In the old days, it was called the crossroads because this was actually where all the trains were going through from Mexico to Canada, and east and west…