ghp July 2015 pdf

6 | ghp July 2015 KalVista Raises Finances to Fund Research The pharmaceuticals firm has announced it has raised further funds which will be used to support its research and clinical development programs. The company, which is a research-led pharmaceutical company, will use the funds to advance its proprietary portfolio of plasma kallikrein inhibitors for treating diabetic macular edema and hereditary angioedema. Alongside the existing investors, Novo A/S and SV Life Sciences, the round included additional international healthcare investors experienced in plasma kallikrein targeted mechanisms led by RA Capital Management and including Longwood Fund and Venrock. Rajeev Shah, the Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at RA Capital and Rich Aldrich, who is co-founder and Partner of Longwood Fund, will both join the KalVista Board of Directors. Bong Koh, a Partner at Venrock, and Tomas Kiselak, a Managing Director at RA Capital, will also join the Board as observers. Shah commented on the reasons behind RA Capital’s decision to invest in the research. ‘We are delighted to conclude this financing, and are very excited to be joining the Board of KalVista at a time of great progress and pipeline expansion in the Company. We were attracted to this investment by KalVista’s scientific leadership in this area and its significant progress towards its goal of bringing best- in-class, small molecule plasma kallikrein inhibitors to the market. Together with the Longwood Fund and Venrock as new investors alongside SVLS and Novo, the syndicate brings considerable experience in the company’s areas of interest. We look forward to help- ing KalVista execute its ambitious business plan.’ KalVista has developed and patented a diverse pipeline of highly selective and potent plasma kallikrein inhibitors designed for different routes of administration. The Series B financing will enable the Company to accelerate the advancement of these drug candidates through to clinical testing for multiple disease indications. The most advanced program, an intravitreally administered plasma kallikrein inhibitor has just completed its first-in-human study and will move into Phase 2 trials in 2016 for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME). The pharmaceuticals firm is also rapidly advancing orally delivered inhibitors through pre-clinical testing. These drugs will not only expand the therapeutic options for DME patients but also enable KalVista to expand its disease portfolio into the treatment of HAE and other kallikrein-related disorders. In addition to this the company continues to expand its small mol- ecule portfolio towards additional therapeutic targets which will enable them to fully exploit their research expertise with serine proteases for the treatment of unmet clinical needs. Andrew Crockett, KalVista’s CEO, was optimistic about the research and emphasized that the new funding would benefit this greatly. ‘This financing round attracted significant demand from major healthcare investors and we are delight- ed with this vote of confidence in our strategy to develop best-in-class plasma kallikrein inhibitors in serious diseases. This financing will allow us to rapidly advance our programs in DME and HAE towards im- portant clinical proof of concept milestones and bring much-needed treatments to patients. We are now in a very strong position to drive the growth of KalVis- ta, and achieve the full potential of our therapeutic pipeline.’ news