12 September 2017 - - US-based late-stage clinical company Synthetic Biologics, Inc. (NYSE American: SYN) has closed a privately placed stock purchase transaction for the sale of redeemable convertible preferred stock to an affiliate of MSD Partners, L.P. for aggregate gross proceeds of USD 12m, the company said on Tuesday.

Synthetic Biologics said it plans to use proceeds from the preferred stock transaction for general corporate purposes, including the continued advancement of SYN-004 (ribaxamase), the company's Breakthrough Therapy Designation drug candidate designed to prevent antibiotic-mediated C. difficile infection, overgrowth of pathogenic organisms and the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in the gut microbiome.

At closing, Synthetic Biologics issued shares of preferred stock, which are convertible into common shares at an initial conversion price of USD 0.54 per share.

Synthetic Biologics is a late-stage clinical company developing therapeutics designed to preserve the microbiome to protect and restore the health of patients.

The company's lead candidates poised for Phase 3 development include SYN-004 (ribaxamase) which is designed to protect the gut microbiome from the effects of certain commonly used intravenous beta-lactam antibiotics for the prevention of C. difficile infection, overgrowth of pathogenic organisms and the emergence of antimicrobial resistance.

Its other lead candidate, SYN-010 is intended to reduce the impact of methane producing organisms in the gut microbiome to treat an underlying cause of irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C).

The company is also developing preclinical stage monoclonal antibody therapies for the prevention and treatment of pertussis and novel discovery stage biotherapeutics for the treatment of phenylketonuria.