The high-profile biotech entrepreneur Cam Garner has crafted a tranched, $30 million Series A round for San Diego-based Elevation Pharmaceuticals. Canaan Partners, TPG Growth, Care Capital, and Mesa Verde Venture Partners all joined to back the company, which is chaired by Garner, who is best known for leading Dura to a $1.8 billion sale to Elan. Bill Gerhart, the former CEO at Mpex, is at the helm of the start-up. Garner and Gerhart co-founded the company.
Elevation's lead candidate--EP-101--is a long-acting bronchodilator targeted at patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Elevation partnered with PARI Pharma for development of EP-101 in combination with an investigational high efficiency nebulizer customized to deliver Elevation's drug candidates.
"We have a great opportunity to significantly improve the standard of care for those patients most in need of better aerosol therapies, and we are very fortunate to have attracted a syndicate of accomplished and experienced investors to help realize this vision," says Gerhart. "This capital will enable development of our first candidate through mid-stage clinical trials as well as begin development of a pipeline of product candidates targeted at underserved patient subpopulations with respiratory disease."
- here's the press release