CHAPEL HILL — Renovion is poised for a “pivotal” lung transplant trial in the United States after closing on $8.1 million in Series A financing.
The pre-clinical stage pharmaceutical company, which is based in Chapel Hill, is developing a therapy for chronic inflammatory airway diseases. It said the funds would support the development and clinical programs associated with their lead therapeutic candidate ARINA-1.
ARINA-1 is a nebulized therapy developed to improve mucus clearance and decrease inflammation in patients diagnosed with chronic lung disease.
“Patient and laboratory studies have shown that ARINA-1 significantly improves mucus clearance while reducing inflammation. There are limited options available and we see a great opportunity to help these patients,” said Dan Copeland, chief executive officer at Renovion, in a statement. “This funding will be instrumental in progressing our clinical programs in patients suffering from chronic lung diseases, including patients with a lung transplant, cystic fibrosis (CF), and non-CF bronchiectasis.”
The financing round was led by Texas-based White Rock Capital Management.
Renovion has been granted orphan status designation for lung transplant and cystic fibrosis (CF). A Phase 2/3 pivotal trial in lung transplant is scheduled to start in early 2021, and this will be followed by clinical programs in CF and non-CF bronchiectasis.
As a part of this financing, Renovion has added two board members: Tom Barton, managing partner of White Rock Capital, and Jon Civitarese, managing director of SVB Leerink. They join Derek Winstanly, MBChB, who serves as chairman of the board of directors and Dan Copeland, CEO of Renovion.
