SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cidara Therapeutics, a privately held biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it has been named by FierceBiotech as one of 2014’s Fierce 15 biotechnology companies, designating it as one of the most promising private biotechnology companies in the industry.
“Welcome back Jeff Stein and Kevin Judice, two biotech execs who are part of the new biotech redux generation,” says John Carroll, editor of FierceBiotech. “Both have had successful turns in previous startups (Trius and Achaogen), and the recent wave of acquisitions and IPOs has left them free to keep trying their entrepreneurial skills at new ventures, using their extensive connections and experience to assemble a group of A-list backers and a small but growing pipeline of antifungal therapies.”
Cidara is currently advancing two promising programs towards clinical studies. Cidara has initiated IND-enabling studies with biafungin, a novel, long-acting echinocandin for the prevention and treatment of invasive fungal infections. Biafungin is currently being targeted for the treatment of patients with invasive candida infections and, potentially, for prophylaxis in patients with a high risk of fungal infection.
Additionally, its Cloudbreak™ platform has the potential to transform the treatment of infectious disease in patients with life threatening infections by redirecting the immune system to the site of infection. The platform leverages concepts used with success in cancer immunotherapy and will initially be applied to patients suffering from invasive fungal infections. However, in contrast to other targeted immunotherapy approaches, Cloudbreak technology benefits from the versatility of small bifunctional molecules that engage the innate immune system and thereby avoids the cost and difficulties associated with proteins.
“It is an honor to be recognized in the Fierce 15 class of 2014 and included among this prestigious group of innovative companies,” said Jeffrey Stein, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Cidara. “Our biafungin and Cloudbreak programs offer a differentiated approach to treating fungal infections and have the potential to meaningfully impact patients suffering from these diseases. The completion of our $32 million Series A financing earlier this year strongly positions us to advance our biafungin program toward phase 1 trials and our Cloudbreak platform toward IND-enabling studies in 2015.”
The Fierce 15 celebrates the spirit of being “fierce” – championing innovation and creativity, even in the face of intense competition. This is FierceBiotech’s twelfth annual Fierce 15 selection. A complete list of “Fierce 15” companies can be found online at www.fiercebiotech.com/fierce15.
An internationally recognized daily report reaching a network of over 270,000 biotech and pharma industry professionals, FierceBiotech provides subscribers with an authoritative analysis of the day's top stories. Every year FierceBiotech evaluates hundreds of private companies from around the world for its annual Fierce 15 list, which is based on a variety of factors such as the strength of its technology, partnerships, venture backers and a competitive market position.
About FierceBiotech
FierceBiotech is the biotech industry's daily monitor, an email newsletter and web resource providing the latest biotech news, articles, and resources related to clinical trials, drug discovery, FDA approval, FDA regulation, patent news, pharma news, biotech company news and more. More than 270,000 top biotech professionals rely on FierceBiotech for an insider briefing on the day's top stories. Signup is free at www.fiercebiotech.com/signup.
About Cidara Therapeutics
Cidara Therapeutics, Inc. is a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on applying a novel, small molecule immunotherapy platform to treat severe fungal infections in immune-compromised patients. Cidara recently announced that it has completed a $32 million Series A financing that will enable it to advance candidates from the company’s Cloudbreak™ targeted immunotherapy platform and biafungin™, a novel, long-acting echinocandin antifungal drug, into human clinical studies. The financing round was led by 5AM Ventures, Aisling Capital, Frazier Healthcare and InterWest Partners, and also included select institutional crossover investors. For more information, visit http://www.cidara.com.
