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News
- Company raises $12 million to help fund study of vision drug
- Potentia Pharmaceuticals Secures Additional $12 Million in Funding
- 9 area technology companies get state grants
- Potentia Pharmaceuticals announces initiation of Phase I clinical trials to evaluate its lead compound for age-related macular degeneration
- Potentia Pharmaceuticals Raises $5 Million from Private Investors
- Potentia Pharmaceuticals Appoints Armen H. Tashjian to its Scientific Advisory Board
- Potentia Pharmaceuticals licences Complement inhibitor from the University of Pennsylvania
- Potentia Pharmaceuticals awarded two Phase I STTR grants
- Potentia Pharmaceuticals hosts reception at the 2006 ARVO annual meeting in Fort Lauderdale
- Potentia gets $2.6 million from East Coast investors
- Biotech company attracts funding from investors in northeast
- Potentia Pharmaceuticals closes fourth round of funding
- Louisville's life sciences 'import' strategy scores
- Potentia Pharmaceuticals' third round of funding
- Potentia Pharmaceuticals raises a second round of funding
- Potentia Pharmaceuticals awarded 4 grants
- Potentia Pharmaceuticals begins its operations
- Winner of the Harvard Business School Business Plan Competition
- Winner of the GSAS Harvard Biotech Club Business Plan Competition
View Courier Journal article here.
back to top April 9, 2008—Potentia Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a private development-stage biotechnology company, announced today that it has completed a $12 million round of financing. The funds will allow Potentia to complete Phase I and move into Phase II clinical development of Potentia's novel investigational drug candidate, POT-4. POT-4 is a peptide that specifically inhibits complement activation and is initially being developed for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
The financing was led by HealthCare Ventures, a leading venture capital firm specializing in the life science industry, and MASA Life Science Ventures, LP, one of Potentia's previous investors. In connection with the financing, Douglas E. Onsi of HealthCare Ventures will join Potentia's board of directors.
"Millions of patients are eager for an effective treatment for dry AMD. Complement inhibition, using therapies such as POT-4, is the most promising approach being developed for these people," said Cedric Francois, co-founder and CEO of Potentia Pharmaceuticals. "This additional funding will allow us to complete Phase I and move into Phase II clinical trials of POT-4 which is a first-in-class complement therapy that we believe will revolutionize the treatment for AMD. We are very grateful for the continued support by our original investors and are extremely pleased to have a venture capital group with the stature of HealthCare Ventures on board as our newest investor."
Douglas E. Onsi of HealthCare Ventures commented, "We were very impressed by Potentia's experienced management team and the company's unique approach to the treatment of AMD. HealthCare Ventures invests in companies, like Potentia, that open new avenues of research and develop novel products that will change the practice of medicine."
AMD is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly of the western world. An estimated 10 million patients in the USA are affected with the disease, of which approximately 3 million are afflicted with an advanced form of the disease, moreover this number is expected to double over the next ten to fifteen years. Dry AMD is the most common form of the disease, accounting for about 85% of all cases. AMD represents a multi-billion dollar market for which only a limited number of treatment options are available.
View full press release here.View Courier Journal article here.
March 20, 2007—Potentia Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it is entering the clinical phase of development for POT-4, its lead drug candidate for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). POT-4 is a complement inhibitor, which shuts down the complement activation system that could lead to local inflammation, tissue damage and upregulation of angiogenic factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
Four landmark studies published in April 2005 demonstrated a genetic link between the complement system and AMD, providing evidence that complement activation plays a significant role in the cause of the disease. Less than two years after the publication of the studies, POT-4 will be the first complement inhibitor tested in patients with AMD.
“These recent data have sparked hope that AMD can be treated with complement inhibitors, which help treat the early stages of the disease. We are hopeful that POT-4 may represent a new therapeutic option for patients with dry and wet forms of the disease,“ said Cedric Francois, M.D., Ph.D., Potentia’s President and CEO.
AMD is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly of the western world and affects more than 10 million patients in the United States alone. The current standard of care for AMD relies primarily on angiogenesis inhibitors, an approach geared towards the approximately 10-15% of AMD patients with complications resulting from ocular angiogenesis (growth of new blood vessels and bleeding in the back of the eye). No drug currently on the market has been approved for the treatment of the remaining patients, who suffer from the so-called “dry” form of the disease.
View full press release here.March 6, 2007—Potentia Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it closed a $5 million round of financing. The funds will be used in part to support the pre-clinical and clinical development of Potentia’s main drug candidate, POT-4. POT-4 is a derivative of Compstatin, a peptide that inhibits complement activation. POT-4 is initially being developed for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD)
View full press release here.December 5, 2006—Potentia Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today the appointment of Armen H. Tashjian, Jr., M.D. to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Tashjian is Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, emeritus at Harvard Medical School where his research focuses on the biochemical and molecular mechanisms of signal transduction with an emphasis on neuropeptides and their receptors. A second long-term interest has been on intracellular and extracellular calcium metabolism and skeletal biology and pharmacology. He founded the Department of Molecular and Cellular Toxicology at the Harvard School of Public Health where he is Professor of Toxicology, emeritus. Under his guidance, this department was at the forefront of discovering mechanisms of toxicity of environmental chemicals and therapeutic agents.
Dr. Tashjian has been an officer in numerous scientific societies, serving on NIH study sections and government advisory panels, and on the editorial boards of over 15 scientific journals including the New England Journal of Medicine. He is a senior advisor to a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and venture capital funds. He is an elected member of the Norwegian Academy for Science and Letters and is Deputy Editor of the recently published textbook entitled Principles of Pharmacology: The Pathophysiologic Basis of Drug Therapy.
"We are excited that Dr. Tashjian has agreed to join Potentia's Scientific Advisory Board," said Cedric Francois, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer for Potentia. "He has a stellar record of accomplishment and brings years of scientific leadership to Potentia."
View full press release here.July 27, 2006—Potentia Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has entered into an exclusive, worldwide licensing agreement with the University of Pennsylvania that provides broad rights to develop and commercialize University of Pennsylvania’s Compstatin class of complement-inhibiting peptides for the treatment of ocular diseases. While the terms of the license have not been disclosed, this agreement will allow Potentia to move forward with the preclinical development of the first complement-inhibiting drug product aimed at treating both the “wet” and “dry” forms of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
“We are excited to work with the University of Pennsylvania in developing the first treatment for macular degeneration based on the important genetic findings of the last year” said Cedric Francois, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer for Potentia. “Genetic analysis of patients with macular degeneration has now clearly established that excessive complement activation is involved in the development of macular degeneration. Compstatin is one of the best complement-inhibiting drugs available and we look forward to evaluate its potential and to help patients suffering from this devastating disease.”View full press release here.
Potentia Pharmaceuticals, together with academic collaborators, received two Phase I STTR grants from the National Eye Institute to develop new, less invasive delivery technologies for ocular therapeutics. The first grant, involving a collaboration with the Lions Eye Center of the University of Louisville, investigates the use of disease-targeted polymeric nanoparticles that could be administered intravenously. The second program will explore the use of a local controlled-release transscleral delivery vehicle in collaboration with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. These two programs address the important aspect of delivery of drugs to the back of the eye, one of the major obstacles currently facing many promising therapies for ocular diseases.
Potentia hosted a reception in Fort Lauderdale during the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) annual meeting. The event brought together the entire Potentia team and Scientific Advisory Board, along with collaborators and potential partners and introduced them to Potentia and its focused developmental timetable. The reception was a frank success and approximately 35 people attended.
View Courier Journal article here.
View Business First article here.
Potentia raised a fourth round of Angel funding of $2,600,000.
View Courier Journal article here.
Potentia raised a third round of Angel funding of $400,000.
Potentia raised a second round of Angel funding of $315,000.
Potentia was awarded two NIH SBIR Phase I grants and two Kentucky state grants for a total of $1 million. These funds will be used to launch Potentia's first two research programs.
The core scientific founders relocated to Louisville, KY after raising a seed fund of $300,000 from a group of Angel investors. Potentia is currently setting up its first laboratory and will be incubated within the confine of the University of Louisville.
View the Harvard Business School news release here.
View the GSAS Harvard Biotech Club website here.
