AKEBIA RAISES $15.1 MILLION TO DEVELOP BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGIES FOR ANEMIA AND VASCULAR DISORDERS
Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of breakthrough small molecule therapeutics, announced today the successful completion of a $15.1 million Series A financing to develop treatments for anemia and vascular disease. The Series A round was led by new investors Kearny Venture Partners, Novartis Venture Fund, and Venture Investors. New investor Athenian Venture Partners and existing investors Triathlon Medical Ventures and Sigvion Capital participated in the financing.
Proceeds from the financing will support the introduction of Akebia’s drug candidates into patients in 2009. Akebia’s drug candidates include a series of oral Hypoxia-Inducible Factor Prolyl Hydroxylase (HIF-PH) inhibitors, designed to increase the production of red blood cells in patients with anemia; and a novel program targeting Human receptor-linked Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase-beta (HPTP-β) to stimulate angiogenesis in the treatment of peripheral artery disease.
“We are pleased to have completed this Series A financing with a syndicate of leading healthcare investors. Akebia is pioneering a new generation of orally available small molecule drugs which will transform the care of patients with anemia and peripheral artery disease. This financing enables us to move our lead HIF-PH inhibitor AKB-6548 into Phase I studies next year, as well as advance our HPTP-β inhibitors forward towards the clinic,” said Joseph Gardner, co-founder and CEO of Akebia Therapeutics.
“We have been impressed by Akebia’s experienced team, deep pipeline of compounds, and efficient development approach,” commented Campbell Murray, Managing Director at Novartis Venture Fund. “The worldwide market for injectable erythropoetins exceeded $9 billion in 2007. Targeting anemia with orally available small molecules which modulate HIF represents a compelling approach to address this large market for anemia products.”
“Akebia’s HIF and HPTP-β programs are based on years of research and development work originally conducted at Procter & Gamble,” stated John Rice, Managing Partner at Triathlon Medical Ventures. “The unique opportunity to bring together experienced drug development professionals and well-protected compounds from P&G targeting major unmet needs was able to attract a national syndicate of investors.”
In connection with the financing, Anupam Dalal, Partner at Kearny Venture Partners; Campbell Murray, Managing Director at Novartis Venture Fund, and Paul Weiss, Managing Director at Venture Investors, join Akebia’s board of directors alongside founding directors Joseph Gardner and John Rice. Suzette Dutch, Managing Partner at Triathlon Medical Ventures; Daniel Kosoy, Partner at Athenian Venture Partners; and Michael Pape, Partner at Sigvion Capital will serve as observers.
About Akebia
Akebia Therapeutics (www.akebia.com) is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing novel therapies that target the HIF and HPTP-β pathways for anemia and peripheral artery disease, respectively. Founded in 2007 Akebia in-licensed its initial drug development programs and assets from Procter & Gamble. These programs have multiple drug candidates with animal proof-of-concept data. The company’s lead drug candidates are targeted to enter the clinic over the next several years.
About Kearny Venture Partners
With over $330 million in capital under management, Kearny Venture Partners (www.kearnyvp.com) is a venture capital firm exclusively focused on healthcare products. Our partnership has a combined 70 years of healthcare experience across 50 different private companies. KVP focuses on investments in the following areas of healthcare: medical devices and drugs (both small molecules and biopharmaceuticals). Our investment strategy is organized around finding and backing transformative companies in these areas, helping them achieve significant inflections in value.
About Novartis Venture Fund
The Novartis Venture Fund (www.novartisventurefund.com), established in 1996 currently manages over $650 million in committed capital. NVF invests in companies which have the potential to change a core therapeutic field or explore new business areas that will be critical to patient care. Our primary interest is in the development of novel therapeutics and platforms as well as medical devices, diagnostics, and delivery systems. The Fund invests for financial objectives at all stages, but prefers to invest in the early-stages of company development. With eight investment professionals located in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, MA the team has extensive experience in pharmaceutical R&D and venture capital.
About Venture Investors
Venture Investors, LLC (www.ventureinvestors.com) is a premier provider of seed and early stage venture capital in the Midwest. Formed in 1982, Venture Investors has established a proven track record by identifying and financing world-class technology companies throughout the Midwest. The partners at Venture Investors have worked together for over two decades, assisting seed and early-stage entrepreneurial companies. Our philosophy is to identify investment opportunities that provide solutions to real world problems. With offices in Madison, Wisconsin and Ann Arbor, Michigan, we work with world-class technologists and the region’s major research institutions to build companies with defensible positions in large or emerging markets. Venture Investors brings a long history of investment success, a global network of affiliations and co-investors and patient capital to all of our portfolio companies.
About Athenian Venture Partners
Athenian Venture Partners (www.athenianvp.com), an Ohio-based venture capital firm with Principals located in Boston, San Diego and London, focuses on early stage investment opportunities in the Information Technology and Life Sciences industries. The firm’s five senior managers bring over 90 years of combined industry and investment experience in the firm’s two areas of focus and provide significant industry-specific value to Athenian’s portfolio companies. Athenian’s niche is defined by its ability to source quality deal flow both nationally and in the Midwest, while being the right scale to invest in the many smaller, undiscovered gems that are under the radar of the large, national firms.
About Triathlon Medical Ventures
Triathlon Medical Ventures (www.tmvp.com) is a Midwest-based venture capital firm that invests exclusively in the life sciences. We provide equity capital to early and expansion stage companies with proprietary biomedical technology platforms or products addressing significant human healthcare needs. We are geographically focused on early stage opportunities in the Midwest but will also invest in later stage companies nationwide. We are headquartered in Cincinnati, with offices and partners in Indianapolis, Louisville and St. Louis. The partners are industry veterans with extensive experience as both operational managers and venture capitalists.
About Sigvion Capital
Sigvion Capital (www.sigvion.com) was founded in 2004 to finance and support the life-saving and world-changing medicines of tomorrow, creating significant returns for our investors. We were built on a foundation of scientific rigor and excellence. Our partners and advisors include leading experts in their fields – not just successful academics, but some of the most accomplished drug discoverers and developers in the world. Sigvion brings the highest level of scientific, clinical, market and financial rigor to bear during its investment process.