Corvidia Therapeutics Secures $26 Million Series A Financing to Advance Precision Cardiovascular Therapy COR-001 into Clinical Trials

Corvidia Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on the development of cardiovascular therapies. The company recently announced that it has secured $26 million in Series A financing, led by Sofinnova Partners and Apple Tree.

Meanwhile, Corvidia also announced that it has obtained the rights to develop and commercialize COR-001, an investigational monoclonal antibody from AstraZeneca, designating it as its lead drug. The funds raised will be used to conduct Phase I/II clinical trials of the drug in 2016 and to strengthen the company’s preclinical pipeline.

Corvidia Therapeutics, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, is a leader in the field of next-generation cardiovascular medicine. Leveraging functional genomics, the company’s founding team has deciphered genetic susceptibilities that were previously unidentified in the general cardiovascular population. Corvidia’s pipeline precisely matches patients’ specific susceptibilities with corresponding therapies targeting relevant biological pathways.

Corvidia was co-founded by cardiology experts Dr. Michael Davidson, Dr. Rahul Kakkar, and Dr. Matt Devallaraja. Dr. Davidson, a serial entrepreneur serving as Chief Executive Officer, previously worked at Omthera Pharmaceuticals, which was backed by Sofinnova, and assisted in facilitating the company’s $443 million merger with AstraZeneca in 2013. Drs. Kakkar and Devallaraja formerly worked at AstraZeneca’s Emerging Innovations unit, where they developed gene-guided cardiovascular therapies. The founding team was later joined by Dr. Ram Iyer from the National Institute for Health and Biomedical Innovation.

Dr. Davidson stated, “This Series A financing round has been successful, with high-quality investors, which sufficiently demonstrates the strength of our technology and the capabilities of our management team, thereby positioning Corvidia as a leader in the field of precision medicine for cardiovascular diseases.”

Graziano Seghezzi of Sofinnova Partners commented, “The seed funding provided by Sofinnova Partners helped Carvidia get off the ground and ultimately secure its Series A financing. We will continue to support Carvidia in further refining this novel cardiovascular therapy.”

Dr. Seth Harrison of Apple Tree Partners stated, “In the years since our initial investment, the team assembled by Davidson has been the best we have ever seen. We are honored to support Carvidia and, together with Sofinnova Partners and AstraZeneca, to build the first great precision cardiovascular medicine company.”

COR-001 is a monoclonal antibody pioneered by MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca. The compound was previously investigated in Phase I trials for the treatment of another disease, but Dr. Davidson declined to disclose further details. Prior to licensing it to Corvidia, AstraZeneca’s Emerging Innovations unit redesigned the antibody to explore new therapeutic indications.

Dr. Davidson stated that COR-001 will be developed using a precision medicine approach, complemented by companion diagnostics. Corvidia will soon commence this study, with the aim of achieving results within one year of its initiation.

By Chen Kun |