Heart Metabolics Limited, a London, UK-based developer of a drug to treat heart failure for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients, closed a $4m Series A funding.
Backers included the Trans Tasman Commercialisation Fund (Melbourne, Australia) and AshHill Investments (U.S.).
The company intends to use the capital to advance U.S. clinical development of their lead drug candidate, perhexiline, for the treatment of heart failure symptoms in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (recent cases included Fabrice Muamba and Alexander Dale Oen).
In conjunction with the funding, Steven R. Smith of AshHill, Andrew O’Brien, Ph.D., and Michael Bettess, Ph.D. of TTCF joined the Board of Directors of Heart Metabolics along with Peter G. Milner, M.D, who also was also appointed CEO of Heart Metabolics. They joined Mungo Park, Chairman of Heart Metabolics and Executive Chairman of Innovator Capital Limited, and Walter Flamenbaum, M.D., Partner Emeritus at Paul Capital (U.S.).
Milner is based in the USA along with newly hired Philip N. Sussman, Managing Partner at The Channel Group, LLC, CFO, and Mary K. Pendergast, former Deputy Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Founded by Professor Michael Frenneaux and Dr. Houman Ashrafian, the company recently (June 2012) obtained orphan designation from the FDA for the use of perhexiline as first line treatment for moderate-to-severe heart failure due to HCM. It has also in-licensed a new chemical entity drug candidate from The University of Adelaide (Australia) for the treatment of heart failure.
FinSMEs
04/01/2013