San Diego-based Elevation Pharmaceuticals says a successful clinical trial allowed the company to grab $17 million from its tranched Series A financing. The biotech, which is developing aerosol therapies for respiratory diseases, also named Jaisim Shah senior vice president and chief business officer and Pravin Soni, PhD, as chief technical officer. The developer says the funding was released after the positive Phase 2a clinical trial results of its lead product, EP-101, for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The second part of the financing "will help fund an ongoing Phase 2b clinical trial of EP-101 for which data is expected by the end of the first quarter 2012." Release