AmacaThera Announces Close of Oversubscribed Series A Financing to Advance a Novel Post-Operative, Nonopioid Pain Therapy in Clinical Trials

AmacaThera’s proprietary hydrogels enable local, sustained release of small-molecule drugs, biotherapeutics, and cells. These scalable materials have shown broad utility in several models of disease by protecting encapsulated biomolecules from degradation and clearance via their unique inverse thermogelling properties.

AmacaThera’s lead product, AMT-143, is being developed for the treatment of post-surgical pain to materially reduce, and ideally prevent, the need for opioid-based pain relief by providing patients with a single injection administered at the time of surgery.

Molly Shoichet, CSO and cofounder of AmacaThera, said, “The platform technology that we developed at AmacaThera has demonstrated potential in numerous disease indications with the delivery of proteins, antibodies, cells, and small molecules. We are thrilled to have the capital to advance our lead candidate to the clinic and strengthen our pipeline with new innovations.”

“We are excited by both the breadth and depth of AmacaThera’s platform technology and its potential application in a wide range of diseases using approved or investigational drugs that require longer duration of action,” said Peter van der Velden, Managing Partner at Lumira Ventures.

“We are excited to work with management and a strong global investor group to fund the Company’s lead candidate to the market and address patients’ needs,” added Lu Han, Principal at Lumira Ventures.

“AmacaThera’s lead product will be a great option for patients in the treatment of post-surgical pain,” said Mike Serrano-Wu, Partner at Sprout BioVentures. “We began our investment journey and partnership with AmacaThera in December 2018, leading the company’s seed round. We have been impressed with the quality of the team, its technology, and the breadth of product opportunities available to AmacaThera.”

Michelle Scarborough, Managing Partner, Strategic Investments and Women in Technology Venture Fund, said, “AmacaThera has the potential to disrupt the way we treat post-operative pain, a key to fighting the ongoing opioid epidemic. Cofounder, CSO, and world-renowned and award-winning researcher Dr. Molly Shoichet, CEO Michael Cooke, and their team bring unparalleled expertise and scientific rigor to solving this important problem. We are thrilled to support them.”

Michael Cooke, CEO and cofounder of AmacaThera, said, “We are excited to welcome our new investors and are grateful to the continued support of our existing investors. We look forward to accelerating our clinical trials and expanding our pipeline of potential product offerings. We are focused on advancing our lead asset through the clinic and developing partners with whom we can leverage our injectable sustained release platform.”

About AmacaThera

AmacaThera is a clinical-stage company based in Toronto. AmacaThera is redefining how therapeutics are delivered. AmacaThera has developed a platform hydrogel technology that addresses the critical problem of sustaining therapeutic delivery of pharmacological agents for multiple disease areas. AmacaThera’s lead product addresses post-operative pain and consequently may have an impact on the opioid crisis. AmacaThera is a spin-out company from Dr. Molly Shoichet’s laboratory at the University of Toronto. For more information, visit www.amacathera.com.

About Lumira Ventures

Lumira Ventures invests in best-in-class and first-in-class North American companies developing innovative therapeutics and medical technologies whose products offer transformative improvements to patient health outcomes and/or meaningful reductions to the overall cost of healthcare delivery. Lumira executes a proven and differentiated investment strategy and, as a lead investor, is an active partner to our portfolio companies as they develop, commercialize and deliver their products to patients. For more information, visit www.lumiraventures.com.

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