NORFOLK, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ReAlta Life Sciences, Inc., today announced that it has successfully closed an oversubscribed Series A2 financing of $14 million, bringing the total Series A financing to $26 million. The financings were led by Children’s Research Holdings and Marathon Pharma, as well as additional undisclosed investors. ReAlta Life Sciences is a biotech company dedicated to harnessing the power of the immune system through its PIC1 technology platform to address life-threatening medical needs.
ReAlta is advancing a new class of therapies based on its proprietary PIC1 technology platform, comprised of a family of more than 160 engineered peptides. The company’s novel pipeline is led by RLS-0071, which is being developed for the treatment of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), a severe birth complication affecting newborns resulting from oxygen deprivation to the brain. HIE leads to significant brain injury and tissue destruction. In addition, ReAlta plans to explore the therapeutic potential of RLS-0071 for other inflammatory disorders, such as acute lung injury, a disorder characterized by severe and quickly progressing lung damage caused by an inflammatory response, such as due to COVID-19 infection.
“As we prepare for the important transition into a clinical-stage organization later this year, we appreciate our investors’ continued confidence in our platform and pipeline. We stand well-resourced to drive our company forward and to harness the power of the immune system for groundbreaking new therapies,” said Ulrich Thienel, M.D., Ph.D., ReAlta’s Chief Executive Officer. “The additional capital raised will support the advancement of our lead program of HIE toward the clinic, as well as its utilization in other inflammatory disorders. In particular, we are accelerating our efforts to address acute lung injury to help in the important and urgent fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Our mission is to address life-threatening medical diseases, and we are committed to advancing RLS-0071 in the best manner possible to benefit as many patients as we can.”
ReAlta is finalizing IND-enabling activities for RLS-0071 and expects to initiate clinical development in 2020.
About ReAlta Life Sciences
ReAlta Life Sciences, Inc. is a biotech company dedicated to harnessing the power of the immune system through its PIC1 technology platform, comprised of a family of over 160 engineered peptides, to address life-threatening medical needs. To support its vision, ReAlta has developed a novel class of therapeutics with a dual targeting approach designed to rebalance complement and inflammatory processes in the body. The company’s pipeline is led by RLS-0071 (PIC1-dPEG24), which has been granted Orphan Drug Designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) in neonates. The company launched in 2018, and is located in Norfolk, Virginia. For more information, please visit www.realtalifesciences.com.