Kriya Therapeutics, a Palo Alto, Calif. and Durham, N.C.-based gene therapy company, raised $80.5m in Series A financing.
Investors included QVT, Dexcel Pharma, Foresite Capital, Bluebird Ventures (associated with Sutter Hill Ventures), Narya Capital, Amplo, Paul Manning, and Asia Alpha. This Series A round follows an initial seed financing completed by Kriya in the fourth quarter of 2019 led by Transhuman Capital, who also participated in the Series A round.
The company intends to use the funds for the development of gene therapies for prevalent serious diseases.
Led by Shankar Ramaswamy, M.D., Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Kriya is focused on developing gene therapies for diseases affecting millions of patients, expanding the field of gene therapy beyond rare monogenic disorders. Its initial pipeline includes multiple AAV-based gene therapies for the treatment of metabolic diseases including type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and severe obesity:
- KT-A112 is an investigational gene therapy administered by intramuscular injection that delivers the genes to produce insulin and glucokinase for type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
- KT-A522 is an investigational gene therapy administered by salivary gland injection that delivers the gene to produce a glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist for type 2 diabetes and severe obesity.
- KT-A832 is an investigational gene therapy administered by intrapancreatic injection that delivers the gene to produce modified insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1) for type 1 diabetes.
The company is led by Shankar Ramaswamy, M.D. – Co-Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, John Fraser Wright, Ph.D. – Scientific Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Advisor, Melissa Rhodes, Ph.D., D.A.B.T. – Chief Development Officer, Britt Petty – Chief Manufacturing Officer, Daniel Chen – Chief Financial Officer, Mitch Lower – Vice President of Technical Operations, Zhu Pirot, Ph.D. – Vice President of Translational Sciences, Brian Furmanski, Ph.D. – Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, and Nachi Gupta, M.D., Ph.D. – Chief of Staff.
FinSMEs
12/05/2020