SILVER SPRING, Md. & FORT COLLINS, Colo., USA: Efficacy trials for a new dental anesthetic that saves patients the pain of injections are continuing after the company responsible for the development of the drug secured additional $3.5 million funding from an angel investor this week.

The yet unnamed anesthetic developed by St. Renatus, LLC, a Midwest startup from Colorado, is administered through the nasal cavity as a fine mist and is claimed to achieve complete anesthesia in the maxillary arch. The first application for FDA approval of the method was submitted in 2002 and final trials on humans were begun following the completion of phase 2 efficacy studies in July last year.

St. Renatuss CEO Steve Merrick, a former Septodont marketing executive, said that the recent cash injection will help the company to continue to conduct further large-scale studies on more than 300 patients in schools around the U.S. Initial trial results are expected to be available by mid-2012, he recently told the Northern Colorado Business Report.

"Thanks to this angel investment group we are able to take a major step forward in bringing this new technology to dentists and their patients," he said.

According to Merrick, the company has already spent $25 million on the development of the drug.

The name of the investment group has not been disclosed.