Regado Biosciences, Inc. Permanently Halts Enrollment In Lead Drug Trial
August 25, 2014
By Krystle Vermes , BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
California-based Aldea Pharmaceuticals, a company dedicated to treating aldehyde metabolism disorders, is reporting today that it has brought in $24 million in Series B equity financing.
New investors RusnanoMedInvest and WuXi PharmaTech Corporate Venture took part in the round of financing. Canaan Partners and Correlation Ventures, which have contributed to financing in the past, also participated in the most recent round.
The money that Aldea Pharmaceuticals has brought in will be put toward its lead drug candidate, AD-6626. The goal is to begin clinical trials to determine how AD-6626 will impact patients in the future.
Each year, millions of Americans are taken to the emergency room with acute alcohol intoxication. There is no immediate cure for alcohol toxicity, and it can be fatal depending on the circumstances. Aldea Pharmaceuticals will use its money to fund subsequent Phase 2 trials of intravenous AD-6626 in an emergency room setting.
“The use of AD-6626 in the ER setting has the potential to stabilize patients suffering from acute alcohol toxicity and more rapidly improve the signs and symptoms of intoxication than waiting for alcohol metabolism, thereby simplifying patient care. This could facilitate treatment in individuals suffering from co-morbidities such as trauma, as well as benefiting the system as a whole,” said William Yelle, chief executive officer of Aldea.
However, the company is not limiting AD-6626 to the potential treatment of acute alcohol intoxication.
“We also have the opportunity to apply our scientific approach in the treatment of patients with Fanconi anemia, a rare genetic disease characterized by chromosomal instability, bone marrow failure and an increased risk of cancer,” continued Yelle. “The funds we have secured with this financing should allow us to generate proof-of-concept data in both of these indications.”
The money that was collected in this round of funding may help support a Phase 1/2 proof-of-biology study that looks as AD-6626 for the treatment of Fanconi anemia.
FA is one of many types of anemia that may impact humans. Approximately 10 percent of people who have the disease end up developing leukemia, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Children may inherit the disease from their parents, and they are 25 percent more likely to do so if both parents have a defect in the FA gene.
