Civitas Therapeutics has nailed down a substantial $55 million venture round aimed at getting its lead program for Parkinson's through Phase III and onto the market. The Chelsea, MA-based biotech is developing CVT-301, a fast-acting rescue formulation of levodopa that can be self-administered through an inhaler.
It took a big team to get this package of cash together. New investors Adage Capital Management, OrbiMed Advisors, Partner Fund Management, Rock Springs Capital, and Sofinnova Ventures all stepped in, with existing investors Alkermes, Bay City Capital, Canaan Partners, Fountain Healthcare Partners, Longitude Capital, RA Capital, and Wellington Management Company stepping up as well. Alkermes has lent the company both technology as well as some of its facilities to get the company up and running with a development strategy that must be very familiar to Alkermes CEO Richard Pops.
In most cases like this, a biotech company would be shouting its success in raising this kind of cash from the nearest media hilltop. Civitas, though, is keeping a low profile. The company is letting its press release do all the talking; a spokesperson told FierceBiotech, "Unfortunately we will not be able to discuss at this time."
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| Civitas CEO Mark Iwicki |
CEO Mark Iwicki also declined an earlier invitation to talk when the company announced back in April that its Phase II study had delivered positive results, hitting the primary endpoints by demonstrating that the therapy "provided onset of action by 10 minutes with durable effects lasting for at least 60 minutes."
Here's what the tight-lipped Iwicki said in the latest release: "The proceeds from this financing round will be used towards the upcoming Phase 3 clinical trials for our lead candidate, CVT-301, an inhaled formulation of levodopa (L-dopa) being developed for rapid and reliable relief from debilitating motor fluctuations, known as OFF episodes, associated with Parkinson's disease (PD), as well as for the development of additional, early stage pipeline programs."
- here's the release