CONCORD, Mass., Jan. 17, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Comanche Biopharma Corp. today announced the closing of an oversubscribed $75 million Series B financing to advance its mission to develop and make globally available the first treatment targeting a root cause of preeclampsia. Existing investors GV (Google Ventures), F-Prime Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV), and Longview Healthcare Ventures participated in the Series B round, joined by new investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA), who led the round, and Atlas Venture. Concurrent with the Series B raise, Scott Gottlieb, M.D., Partner on the NEA healthcare investment team and former Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and David Grayzel, M.D., Partner at Atlas Venture, have joined Comanche’s Board of Directors.
Preeclampsia is a prevalent and serious pregnancy complication that affects approximately 10 million women globally each year. It can lead to serious complications for both the mother and the baby, including multi-organ damage, seizures, and premature birth. Currently, delivery of the baby, often very prematurely, is the only available option for stopping the progression of preeclampsia.
Scott Johnson, M.D., Chief Executive Officer at Comanche Biopharma, commented, “We are thrilled to have the support and validation of this top-tier investor syndicate. Preeclampsia’s detrimental impact extends well beyond the immediate health of mother and baby, affecting families, healthcare systems, and communities around the world. For the first time, we are able to target a root cause of this disease, potentially ameliorating its significant consequences and, in the process, take an important step toward improving the maternal health crisis, ensuring safer pregnancies, and delivering benefits that resonate across multiple facets of society globally.”
Scott Gottlieb, M.D., a partner at New Enterprise Associates and newly appointed board member to Comanche Biopharma, said, “This medicine is the culmination of decades of scientific research that supports this novel approach to treating preeclampsia. The investment will enable us to advance the drug through a comprehensive series of clinical trials, aiming to determine its safety and effectiveness in addressing this serious and life-threatening pregnancy condition. Complications associated with pregnancy cause far too much suffering and death, and we believe this treatment could mitigate some of these tragic outcomes and, we hope, contribute to a broader and renewed effort in meeting these clinical challenges with innovative science, supported by new investment capital.”
Comanche plans to use the proceeds from the Series B financing to initiate a clinical study of CBP-4888, its lead siRNA drug candidate, in pregnant preeclamptic patients later this year. The company recently completed a Phase 1 healthy volunteer study in women of child-bearing age.
Allison August, M.D., Chief Medical Officer at Comanche Biopharma and an obstetrician/gynecologist, added, “Tragically, millions of pregnancies are affected by preeclampsia, contributing to the escalating maternal mortality crisis. The only current effective intervention to initiate recovery from preeclampsia is premature delivery of the infant, a decision fraught with significant risk of short- and long-term complications for the baby. This stark reality, leading to over 500,000 infant fatalities annually worldwide, especially in regions with limited access to neonatal intensive care units, underscores the critical need for an effective treatment – a need our team is acutely aware of and is fully committed to addressing. Our planned initiation of a clinical study in pregnant preeclamptic patients this year is a critical step toward advancing our mission.”
Convergence of multiple factors propelled Comanche’s focus on preeclampsia
Multiple factors have converged that motivated Comanche’s focus on developing novel therapeutics that make pregnancies safer and specifically address preeclampsia:
The siRNA technology in CBP-4888 instructs the body’s own natural mechanisms to turn down sFlt1 production at its source in the placenta, thus lowering the toxic levels in the mother’s blood and potentially giving physicians a meaningful therapeutic tool in the treatment of preeclampsia.
About Comanche Biopharma Corp.
Comanche Biopharma is a maternal and fetal medicine biopharmaceutical company working to make every pregnancy around the world safer. We are currently developing the world’s first treatment for preeclampsia, which affects more than 10 million women globally every year.
Our mission is to develop the first definitive treatment for sFlt1-mediated preterm preeclampsia and facilitate its availability globally. Comanche Biopharma’s founders have had successful careers discovering new medicines, building and selling companies, and taking on some of the hardest challenges in medicine. Ours is a new company with leaders who have established reputations for excellence, including scientific advisors Craig Mello, Nobel Laureate for the discovery of RNA interference, and Ananth Karumanchi who first identified the causal role of sFlt1 in preeclampsia. This discovery is the basis of the first diagnostic test which is currently standard of care in the European Union and United Kingdom for the management of patients suspected of having preeclampsia.
We are harnessing the power of these two recent scientific breakthroughs to bring an effective treatment for preeclampsia to the global marketplace. We are committed to the ethical representation of people of all colors and economic status globally in our clinical development programs. We plan to prioritize ensuring access to our solutions by those who need them most.
About CBP-4888
CBP-4888 is a fixed-dose combination of two small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNAs) duplex oligonucleotides targeting soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase–1 (sFLT1) mRNA isoforms in the placenta.
About Preeclampsia
Preeclampsia is a prevalent and serious pregnancy complication that affects up to 8% of pregnancies worldwide. It can lead to a range of complications for both the mother and the baby, including multi-organ damage, seizures, and premature birth. Globally there are an estimated 80,000 maternal deaths and 500,000 fetal and newborn deaths annually due to this pregnancy complication. While preeclampsia can develop in any pregnancy, it disproportionately affects black individuals and those living in low resource settings. The signs and symptoms of preeclampsia can vary and include high blood pressure, acute kidney injury, swelling of the hands and face, severe headaches, vision changes, and abdominal pain. Currently, delivery of the baby, often very prematurely, is the only available option for stopping the progression of preeclampsia.
Media Contact:
Liz Melone
Melone Communications, LLC
Mobile: +1 617-256-6622
Email: liz@melonecomm.com
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