Chelsea, MA – September 11, 2013 – Civitas Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company with a lead program in Parkinson’s disease that leverages the ARCUS® respiratory delivery platform, today announced the successful completion of a $38 million Series B financing. Bay City Capital led the round and was joined by new investors RA Capital and another undisclosed blue chip public investment fund with participation from all existing investors including Alkermes plc, Canaan Partners, Fountain Healthcare Partners, and Longitude Capital.
“The strength and diversity of this investor group provides a robust foundation for achieving our vision of developing proprietary ARCUS®-based therapeutics to improve outcomes for patients,” said Glenn Batchelder, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Civitas. “We are pleased that our new investors recognized the significant value that has been created since our initial financing, and we are excited to have their input and support as we further develop our lead program along with the broader pipeline.”
Civitas plans to use the proceeds from this financing for late stage clinical development of the company’s lead program, CVT-301, an inhaled formulation of levodopa (L-dopa) being developed for the rapid and reliable relief from debilitating motor fluctuations (OFF episodes) associated with Parkinson’s disease. Civitas recently initiated a Phase 2b clinical study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of CVT-301, self-administered by patients, in treating emergent OFF episodes during one month of continued use. The company will report preliminary data from this study in the first half of 2014. In addition, Civitas will explore additional opportunities to leverage the ARCUS® platform for other disease states where the potential to deliver a large, precise dose of a drug — independent of inspiratory flow rate — from a simple, breath actuated device, would provide a significant clinical advantage.
“As we surveyed the Parkinson’s disease landscape, we found CVT-301 to be a particularly compelling opportunity that uniquely addresses a significant unmet need,” said Rajeev Shah, Partner at RA Capital.
“CVT-301 represents a rare combination of a large commercial opportunity for a severe disease coupled with a highly de-risked, capital efficient development path.”
“We are very pleased to join the Civitas investor syndicate,” said Rob Hopfner, Partner at Bay City Capital. “Civitas, along with its scientific and patient foundation collaborators, has made impressive achievements in rapidly advancing the development of CVT-301 since the company’s launch in 2011. The company’s track record of outstanding execution gives us confidence that they are destined to deliver important new therapies to patients.”
As part of this financing, Mr. Shah and Dr. Hopfner will join Civitas’ Board of Directors.