April 19, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
DalCor Pharmaceuticals, which maintains offices in San Mateo, Calif., Switzerland, the UK and Montreal, Canada, announced today that it had wrapped up a private financing round valued at $150 million. Late in 2015, the company closed on a $50 million Series A round, and completed its $100 million Series B round this week.
The most recent round was led by founding investors Sanderling Ventures and André Desmarais, and joined by new investors Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ and CTI Life Sciences. There was also “significant participation” by other investors who were not identified.
DalCor plans to use the funds to progress a Phase III clinical trial of dalcetrapib in patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS). In June 2015, DalCor Pharmaceuticals Canada signed a collaboration deal with the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) to run a Phase III clinical trial on dalcetrapib. Based on research published by MHI researchers Jean-Claude Tardif and Marie-Pierre Dube in Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics, the compound could reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality up to 39 percent in patients with a documented recent ACS and who have the appropriate genetic profile.
Dalcore, organized by Sanderling Ventures, licensed dalcetrapib from Roche . Sanderling has a program that plans to create as many as eight companies in Quebec, an overall potential investment of more than $500 million. DalCor is the fifth new company formed by Sanderling since September 2013.
“This trial represents a major step forward in cardiovascular medicine, opening new doors and creating therapeutic options for patients of specific genetic composition suffering from heart disease,” said Robert McNeil, DalCor’s chief executive officer, in a statement. “We believe that targeting a genetically specific patient population with dalcetrapib has the potential to dramatically reduce cardiovascular risk in this select patient population and will demonstrate the long expected benefit of CETP inhibitors. DalCor and its investors are committed to developing dalcetrapib as the first precision medicine for cardiovascular treatment personalized for patients with a specific genetic profile.”
Roche also has developed a companion diagnostic test to help identify patients who have a specific genetic variant related to CETP. According to Roche, more than 1 million hospital admissions are attributed to ACD. The test is Roche’s first in cardiovascular disease. “Working with DalCor is a good opportunity for us to enter this market and deliver on our mission of personalized healthcare,” said Paul Brown, head of Roche Molecular Diagnostics, in a 2015 statement with GenomeWeb.
The trial is expected to start this month at the Montreal Heart Institute. The trial will target 5,000 patients with ACS.
“Through this investment, la Caisse enables DalCor to develop its product even further, ultimately leading to an important breakthrough in cardiovascular risk management,” said Christian Dubé, executive vice president of Québec at la Caisse, in a statement. “In addition to strengthening a life sciences firm established in Quebec and generating attractive returns for our clients, this investment will allow la Caisse to support the Montreal Heart Institute in its goal to become a global leader in cardiology research.”
