While a recommended course of treatment is not yet final, in the most recent trial, volunteers received injections up to six times in eight months. Kythera also has a big strategic partner in German pharmaceutical giant, Bayer AG., which is already pursuing regulatory approval of the product in Europe, and has the licensing rights outside the U.S. and Canada. Founded in 2005, Kythera until recently funded its research with venture capital funding from investors including Versant Ventures Inc., ARCH Venture Partners and Prospect Venture Partners. But that well had started to run dry. In September 2011, it raised $37.4 million in a Series D round, though it also has received $76.8 million from Bayer in staggered payments. Keith Leonard, Kythera's founder and chief executive, who started out his career at Amgen in 1991 and worked there until 2004, had actually wanted to have an IPO back in 2009. But that was impossible.