Sept 30 (Reuters) - Crystalys Therapeutics said on

Tuesday it has emerged from stealth mode with a funding round of

$205 million to help finance global late-stage trials of its

lead drug as a treatment for gout.

The Series A financing round was co-led by Novo Holdings,

the controlling shareholder of obesity drugmaker Novo Nordisk

, SR One and Catalys Pacific, and had participation

from other investors.

The company, which had a pre-money valuation of $75 million,

had closed an initial investment in June, and had been working

with three to four additional investors for a second capital

raise, CEO James Mackay told Reuters.

Crystalys is accelerating two late-stage trials of

dotinurad, a once-daily oral drug being evaluated in the U.S.

and Europe as a second-line treatment for gout in patients

unresponsive to first-line therapies.

"There really is no available second-line treatment for

these patients," said Mackay adding that while Amgen's ( AMGN )

intravenous drug Krystexxa is successful as a third-line

treatment, the high price limits it to a small portion of

patients.

Gout is a type of inflammatory arthritis, which is caused by

buildup of uric acid in the body and leads to pain and swelling

in the joints.

Dotinurad belongs to a class of drugs which block the urate

transporter 1 (URAT1) in the kidneys, helping increase the

excretion of uric acid and lowering the blood levels of the

substance.

"Normally, you have to conduct replicate clinical trials,

but because of the extensive data that existed, the FDA agreed

that we could do two clinical trials, but two different

designs," Mackay said.

One trial is focused on reducing gout flares, while the

other aims to resolve tophi which are large uric acid crystal

deposits.

The San Diego-based company gained access to the drug from

Urica Therapeutics, a unit of Fortress Biotech ( FBIO ) which

originally licensed the drug from Japan-based Fuji Yakuhin.

Fuji Yakuhin out-licensed the drug in China and other Asian

countries to Eisai ( ESALF ). It is approved in China under the

brand name Urece.