Funding to develop novel biologics targeting orphan bone diseases into clinical trials
MONTREAL, July 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- PreciThera, Inc. a privately-held, precision medicine company, dedicated to the design and development of innovative biological therapeutics for the treatment of orphan bone diseases, today announced the completion of a Series A Financing of CAD$36 million (US$29 million). Investors participating in the financing include Sanderling Ventures, Arix Bioscience, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, CTI Life Sciences and Emerillon Capital.
Proceeds of the Series A financing will be used to develop novel molecules and to advance PreciThera’s lead candidate through IND and into clinical studies with the goal to establish clinical proof of concept and identify a path to registration.
PreciThera is focusing on orphan bone diseases that cannot be treated via traditional protein replacement therapies. The company utilizes a combination of informatics-based tools to combine information from RNA sequencing and from genomic and clinical databases to validate the major pathway responsible for clinical symptoms in rare genetic disorders. Its precision medicine strategy is particularly well-suited to address genetic diseases that, until now, were classified based on their clinical manifestations and treated with non-specific agents. By leveraging both a novel understanding of the biology of these disorders and its precision medicine strategy, PreciThera aims to achieve truly disease-modifying outcomes for patients.
Industry veterans and scientific experts Dr. Philippe Crine and Dr. Susan Schiavi founded Montreal, Canada-based PreciThera in 2016. Prior to PreciThera, Dr. Crine founded Enobia Pharma, which advanced its lead product, asfotase alfa, into clinical development for treatment of the orphan bone disease hypophosphatasia. Enobia Pharma was acquired for $1.1B in 2012 by Alexion, which now markets the product as Strensiq. Dr. Schiavi brings bone and metabolic disease expertise from her many years as director of Genzyme’s Bone and Mineral Metabolism team in support of the company’s blockbuster drug, Renvela.
Quotes
Dr. Philippe Crine, co-founder of PreciThera, said: “We are grateful for the support of these premier healthcare investors who believe in our vision of novel therapeutic strategies for rare diseases and the potential of precision medicine for speeding up and de-risking drug development in this rapidly expanding area of the pharmaceutical industry. Our mission is to provide highly innovative and life changing therapies to patients with heterogeneous genetic diseases affecting the skeleton who had up to now no or inadequate therapeutic options.”
Pierre Beauparlant, chief executive officer of PreciThera, commented: “This fundraising validates the potential that investors see in PreciThera’s approach. The decision to support the company’s efforts was based on strong scientific research, combined with the great market potential for the company’s drug candidates.”
Peter McWilliams, Ph.D., managing director of Sanderling Ventures,said: “We are pleased to be part of this oversubscribed Series A financing combining a strong syndicate of Quebec based and US based investors to launch PreciThera, another important new venture enhancing the vibrant life science innovation ecosystem in Quebec.”
About Sanderling Ventures
Sanderling Ventures is one of the oldest investment firms dedicated to building new biomedical companies. Sanderling emphasizes early-stage financing and active management of its portfolio companies. Its principals play an active role in new ventures by providing seed and early-stage funding, contributing management leadership and administrative support, developing cost-control strategies to extend available dollars, supplying technical and regulatory expertise where needed, and offering the insight and perspective of those who have “done it before.”
For further information, please visit www.sanderling.com
About Arix Bioscience plc
Arix Bioscience plc is a global healthcare and life science company supporting medical innovation. Headquartered in London and with an office in New York, Arix Bioscience sources, finances and builds world class healthcare and life science businesses addressing medical innovation at all stages of development. Operations are supported by privileged access to breakthrough academic science and strategic relationships with leading research accelerators and global pharmaceutical companies.
Arix Bioscience plc is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.
For further information, please visit www.arixbioscience.com
About the Fonds de solidarité FTQ
Fonds de solidarité FTQ is a development capital investment fund that channels the savings of Quebecers into investments. As at May 31, 2017, the organization had $13.1 billion in net assets, and through its current portfolio of investments has helped create and protect 186,440 jobs. The Fonds is a partner in more than 2,700 companies and has 645,664 shareholder-savers.
For further information, please visit http://www.fondsftq.com
About CTI Life Sciences
Based in Montréal, CTI Life Sciences, is a Canadian venture firm that invests in high quality emerging life sciences companies at the pre-clinical and clinical development stage in Canada and in the U.S. CTI Life Sciences has $245 million in assets under management.
For further information, please visit http://www.ctisciences.com
About Emerillon Capital
Based in Montreal, Emerillon Capital is a venture capital fund dedicated to investing and supporting companies with strong technological expertise that are positioned in sectors with strong growth potential. It aims to accelerate commercial start-up and support their expansion. Emerillon Capital invests primarily in Canada. By leveraging the network of CIC Capital, the Canadian subsidiary of CM-CIC Investissement, its lead sponsor, Emerillon Capital offers entrepreneurs a gateway to support their development projects in Europe.
For more information, visit www.emerilloncapital.com/en/
About PreciThera, Inc.
PreciThera, Inc. is a biotechnology company committed to the development of therapies for rare bone diseases using the combined application of computational technology and a deep understanding of disease pathology. The company focuses on heterogeneous genetic disorders that primarily manifest in bone dysfunction. Understanding of novel biology will allow PreciThera’s targeted strategies to meaningfully impact both the skeletal symptoms as well as the extraskeletal issues found in these patients.
For further information, please visit www.precithera.com
For more information, please contact:
PreciThera, Inc.
Pierre Beauparlant, CEO
pbeauparlant@precithera.com
Tel: (514) 700-0764 x 230
Media Relations:
Russo Partners
Alex Fudukidis
alex.fudukidis@russopartnersllc.com
Tel: (646) 942-5632
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SOURCE PreciThera, Inc.
