With $60M and a new CEO, Corvidia Therapeutics is all systems go

A month after ex-Ipsen CEO Marc de Garidel took over the reins at Corvidia Therapeutics, the company reeled in a $60 million series B. The new funding will advance its lead clinical programs in chronic kidney disease, ramp up its preclinical work and boost its scientific and market access capabilities. 

The Waltham, Massachusetts-based biotech was co-founded in 2016 by Michael Davidson, part of the team that sold Omthera to AstraZeneca for $443 million, and a pair of AstraZeneca scientists. It came to life with $26 million and a cardiovascular drug program, dubbed COR-001, in-licensed from AstraZeneca.

The cardio space is typically tough for biotechs as regulators require big, expensive studies to show safety and efficacy, which can be prohibitive for small companies. But Corvidia navigated this from the get-go by targeting narrow, genetically defined patient populations in a personalized medicine approach. 

“Corvidia’s innovative approach to cardiovascular drug development allows them to parse complex, heterogeneous conditions and validate disease pathways in patient subpopulations before beginning clinical trials,” said Karim Helmy, M.D., Ph.D., vice president at Venrock, which led the financing. Corvidia gained five new investors, including Venrock, Fresenius Medical Care Ventures and Cormorant, while its founding investor, Sofinnova Partners, also participated. 

“This funding is critical to accelerating our clinical programs and adding the necessary scientific and market access infrastructure which will drive our growth in developing precision therapies for patients across a range of complex diseases,” CEO de Garidel said. 

COR-001 is nearing the end of a phase 2 trial for a genetically defined patient population living with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) who are also on dialysis, the company said. It is in phase 1 in CKD patients who are not dialysis-dependent, and in the preclinical stage in hypertriglyceridemia. Corvidia plans to hire more staff to support these programs.