Anacor Pharmaceuticals announced that it has raised $50 million through a preferred stock financing with participation from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Schering Corporation and existing investors including Rho Capital Partners, Venrock Associates, Care Capital and Aberdare Ventures. Proceeds from the financing will be used to further develop Anacor's product pipeline based on its boron chemistry platform.

"We are pleased to complete this financing, which will allow us to advance our five clinical programs and to identify and progress new compounds derived from our boron chemistry platform," said David Perry, chief executive officer at Anacor Pharmaceuticals.

The investments from GSK and Schering Corporation fulfil each company's investment obligations pursuant to their respective and ongoing collaborations with Anacor. At the conclusion of the financing, the combined ownership of GSK and Schering Corporation will be less than 20 per cent of Anacor's outstanding shares.

Anacor is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel small molecule therapeutics derived from its boron chemistry platform.