Acesion Pharma, a Danish biotech company developing novel therapeutic treatments for atrial fibrillation (AF), today announced that it has raised 15.2 million DKK (2.5 million USD) in a new equity investment round. The round includes Boston-based Broadview Ventures as a new investor and current investor Novo Seeds.
AF is the most common type of cardiac arrhythmia and is characterized by an irregular and abnormally high frequency in the upper chambers of the heart, the atria. AF is associated with impaired quality of life, increased rate of hospitalization, and increased risk of stroke and death. AF is often treated acutely with electrical shock to bring the heart back to its normal rhythm and existing drug therapies have limited efficacy and/or are often associated with risk of serious adverse effects. There is a great need for more efficacious and safer drugs for the medical treatment of AF.
Acesion Pharma is developing a small molecule-based acute treatment of AF, a program funded by the Wellcome Trust Ltd. Within this program Acesion Pharma expects to select a development candidate in 2015.
In addition, Acesion Pharma is developing a chronic treatment to prevent the recurrence of AF and maintain normal heart rhythm (maintenance therapy). The new investment from Novo Seeds and Broadview Ventures will specifically fund the development of the chronic treatment of AF, a program that has been supported to date with funding from the Danish government through the "Innovation Fund Denmark" initiative.
CEO of Acesion Pharma, Ulrik Sørensen, comments:
"We are pleased about this additional funding that will allow us to accelerate the maintenance program and to welcome Broadview Ventures on board as a new investor. Broadview has a strict and dedicated focus on treatment of cardiovascular diseases and has established a unique network among leading cardiologists and entrepreneurs in this field. We look forward to their participation and to our future interaction with Broadview and see this as an opportunity to open new doors to US based cardiology experts and investors".
Chris Colecchi, Broadview Ventures Managing Director comments: "Broadview's mission is to accelerate the development of promising technologies to help bring about meaningful change for patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases. We are delighted to work with Novo Seeds and the Wellcome Trust to advance our mission via this investment in Acesion Pharma to support this innovative drug discovery program targeting AF".
Bobby G. Soni, Investment Director at Novo Seeds, comments:
"We are pleased to invest with Broadview Ventures to launch a program for the maintenance of sinus rhythm at Acesion Pharma. Their participation is a clear validation of the excellent progress the company has made since their founding and of the large unmet need in the area of atrial fibrillation".