Bay Area Startup Tricida Nabs $55 Million Series C

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tricida, Inc., a privately-held, clinical stage, biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of first-in-class chronic therapies for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), announced today that it has raised a $55M Series C round, bringing the company’s total financing to $95M. The Series C financing was led by new investor Longitude Capital, with participation by new investor Vivo Capital and existing investors OrbiMed, Sibling Capital Ventures and Limulus Venture Partners.

Tricida is on track to complete a first-in-human 100 patient phase 1/2 study of its lead compound, TRC101, in 2016, and is preparing to discuss the safety and efficacy results from the study with the FDA in a Type B meeting later this year. “Establishing clinical proof of concept for TRC101 is ahead of schedule,” said Gerrit Klaerner, Ph.D., Tricida’s CEO, President, and Board Member. “This rapid progress has allowed us to expand our already very strong syndicate of investors. We welcome Longitude and Vivo to the Tricida team.”

“I am pleased to support the development of a first-in-class clinical candidate. We see tremendous value in bringing a treatment to market that has the potential to be disease-modifying in CKD,” said David Hirsch, M.D., Ph.D., Managing Director at Longitude, who joined the Tricida Board in connection with the financing.

Klaus Veitinger, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman of the Tricida Board and Venture Partner at OrbiMed, stated, “In less than three years, Tricida has advanced from idea to clinical proof of concept in a very capital-efficient manner. The company’s anticipated development path and commercial positioning in pre-dialysis patients allow us to consider multiple options, including eventually launching TRC101 with our own sales force.”

About Tricida, Inc.

Tricida, Inc., is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of first-in-class therapeutics. Tricida’s lead program is TRC101, a chronic treatment for complications of renal disease. Tricida has raised a $10M Series A round of financing in Q1 of 2014 and a $30M Series B in Q1 of 2015. More information is available at www.tricida.com.

The company was advised by Sidley Austin LLP.

For more information about Tricida’s investors, please see the following websites: