Aristea Therapeutics, Founded by Former AstraZeneca Executive, Secures $15 Million Series A Financing and Files IPO Prospectus

Recently, VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) learned from foreign media reports that clinical-stage drug development company Aristea Therapeutics has recently completed a Series A financing round amounting to $15 million. The investor in this round was Novo Holdings A/S. Following the completion of the financing, Dr. Tiba Aynechi and Dr. Ken Harrison from Novo Ventures (US) will join the board of directors of Aristea Therapeutics.

Aristea Therapeutics, founded in 2018 and headquartered in San Diego, California, is a clinical-stage drug development startup primarily focused on developing novel therapies for severe inflammatory diseases. The Aristea team possesses extensive experience in the development and commercialization of innovative drugs, with eight drug products approved across a broad range of therapeutic areas, including neuroscience, diabetes/metabolic disorders, inflammation, oncology, and infectious diseases.

James Mackay, Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Aristea Therapeutics, previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Ardea Biosciences, a biotechnology company acquired by AstraZeneca in 2012. Prior to his role at Ardea Biosciences, Mr. Mackay was Vice President of Global Products for Onglyza/Kombiglyze XR at AstraZeneca, where he led the development and commercialization of a portfolio of drugs across multiple therapeutic areas and played a pivotal role in the successful development of the AstraZeneca/Bristol-Myers Squibb diabetes alliance.

Aristea Therapeutics has obtained an exclusive global license from AstraZeneca for its lead candidate, RIST4721. Aristea Therapeutics plans to initiate a Phase II clinical trial in early 2019. The company stated that the Aristea Therapeutics team will leverage its expertise and experience in drug development and commercialization to foster synergistic partnerships and establish a novel drug pipeline.

“Employees at Aristea Therapeutics are passionate drug developers, and we are committed to delivering new medicines to patients through a focused, diligent, and agile approach. We believe that with the financial support from Novo Holdings and our proven track record in drug development, Aristea Therapeutics will gain a significant advantage in pipeline development,” said James Mackay, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aristea Therapeutics. “We look forward to building this organization and advancing RIST4721 into Phase II clinical trials.”

Tiba Aynechi, Partner at Novo Ventures, stated, “We are delighted to support a seasoned team with profound insights into leading projects. There are currently diseases for which no approved treatments exist, and we look forward to their development of a drug that can effectively improve patients’ lives.”

RIST4721 is Aristea Therapeutics’ lead program, but the company has not disclosed many specific details about it to date.

AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb established the Global Diabetes Alliance in January 2007 with the aim of jointly developing drugs for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. In August 2012, the two companies jointly acquired Amylin Pharmaceuticals for $5.3 billion. Subsequently, this partnership was further expanded to cover several other diabetes-related products. In February 2014, AstraZeneca acquired Bristol-Myers Squibb’s entire stake in the Global Diabetes Alliance, thereby obtaining full ownership of the intellectual property rights associated with the alliance’s diabetes business, as well as global rights for development, manufacturing, and commercialization.

Novo Holdings is a Danish private limited liability company wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. As the holding company of the Novo Group, which comprises Novo Nordisk A/S, Novozymes A/S, and NNIT A/S, it is responsible for managing the Foundation’s assets. In addition to being the primary shareholder of the Novo Group companies, Novo Holdings provides seed and venture capital to companies in the development stage and manages a broad portfolio of financial assets. Novo Ventures (US), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Novo Holdings, provides advisory services to Novo Holdings.