Date: 2011-08-23
Type of information: Fundraising
Company: KalVista Pharmaceuticals (UK)
Investors: Novo A/S (Denmark) - SV Life Sciences (UK - USA)
Amount: £8 million
Funding type: series A financing round
Planned used:
Others: KalVista Pharmaceuticals, a new ophthalmology company with a focus on diabetic macular edema, has raised £8 million in a series A round from leading life sciences investors Novo A/S and SV Life Sciences.
KalVista Pharmaceuticals is developing novel, small molecule plasma kallikrein inhibitors, which represent a new approach to the treatment of diabetic macular edema. KalVista’s advanced pre-clinical product pipeline is targeting both intravitreal injection and oral administration routes. KalVista acquired these inhibitors plus all relevant intellectual property from Vantia Therapeutics. Plasma kallikrein is a circulating serine protease that represents an attractive drug target as it is believed to be central to the pathogenesis of DME within the diseased retina, but is not essential for normal function. The detrimental effects of plasma kallikrein on the retina occur independently of VEGF, which has been an area of intense recent interest as a target for treating DME. However, while intravitreal VEGF inhibitors have shown clear benefit in clinical trials through reducing macular edema and increasing visual acuity, a large proportion of DME patients do not respond fully to VEGF treatment. KalVista’s approach targeting plasma kallikrein inhibition therefore has the potential to add to the treatment options for sufferers of DME including those that are non-responsive to VEGF inhibitors.
Therapeutic area: Ophtalmological diseases
