Picture credit: Aer Therapeutics
Aer Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical spin-out firm and a collaboration between College Faculty Dublin (UCD) and the College of California, San Francisco (UCSF), introduced on Friday that it has secured $36M (roughly €32.7M) in a Sequence A spherical of funding.
The capital was obtained from a syndicate of premier life science trade buyers, together with Canaan, OrbiMed, and Hatteras Enterprise Companions.
Fund utilisation
Aer Therapeutics says it would use the proceeds to additional develop AER-01, the corporate’s inhaled small molecule mucolytic drug designed to liquefy mucus plugs in sufferers with persistent obstructive pulmonary illness (COPD).
The corporate plans to conduct a first-in-human Part 1 medical trial of AER-01 in mid-2023.
Jim Shaffer, President and CEO of Aer Therapeutics, says, “We’re excited to introduce Aer Therapeutics as an organization devoted to delivering a therapeutic answer to sufferers with COPD who’ve extreme airway obstruction brought on by mucus plugs.”
“Aer will proceed to leverage this experience within the growth of AER-01 and different therapeutic candidates for the therapy of muco-obstructive lung illnesses,” provides Shaffer.
As a part of the Sequence A financing, the corporate has expanded its board of administrators to incorporate the next new appointees:
- Tim Shannon, M.D., basic companion at Canaan
- Rishi Gupta, J.D., companion at OrbiMed
- Christy Shaffer, Ph.D., basic companion at Hatteras Enterprise Companions Thomas Mathers, CEO at Allievex
Remedy for mucus-associated lung illnesses
Aer Therapeutics was co-founded by Professor John Fahy, UCSF, initially from Dublin, and Professor Stefan Oscarson, UCD Faculty of Chemistry.
Aer Therapeutics is a medical stage biopharmaceutical firm that goals to develop novel therapies for mucus-associated lung illnesses.
Professor Fahy’s laboratory at UCSF developed AER-01 with Professor Oscarson’s glycochemistry laboratory at UCD in collaboration with Professor Anne Marie Healy’s pharmaceutical know-how laboratory at Trinity Faculty Dublin.
The mixed experience of those laboratories in mucus biology, glycochemistry, inhaled drug formulation, drug supply, and lung imaging, supported by a growth grant from the Nationwide Institutes of Well being, underlies the novel AER-01 know-how.
Part 1 medical trials of its lead drug candidate AER-01 will begin in 2023 with the potential to increase growth into a number of different indications corresponding to bronchial asthma, bronchiectasis, and cystic fibrosis.
What’s AER-01?
AER-01 is a thiol-modified carbohydrate (“thiol-saccharide”) that cleaves mucin disulfide bridges to liquefy (“lyse”) mucus plugs.
Carbohydrate scaffolds are pure and non-toxic – their polar nature and excessive aqueous solubility permit them to simply penetrate mucus plugs.
AER-01 is a potent and fast-acting mucolytic well-suited for each nebulizer and dry powder supply.
John Fahy, M.D., M.Sc., Professor of Drugs at UCSF and founding father of Aer Therapeutics, says, “Research utilizing CT lung scans affirm that mucus plugs are extremely prevalent in COPD sufferers, and people with a excessive mucus plug burden have decrease lung perform, elevated frequency of exacerbations, diminished high quality of life, and elevated danger of all-cause mortality.”
“These findings present a foundation to particularly deal with and take away mucus plugs as a method to enhance lung well being for COPD sufferers,” provides Fahy.
The compound is supported by a broad preclinical knowledge package deal generated with the assist of a five-year translational programme venture grant (tPPG) to Drs. Fahy, Oscarson, and Healy from the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (Nationwide Coronary heart Lung and Blood Institute).
Professor Stefan Oscarson, UCD Faculty of Chemistry and co-founder of Aer Therapeutics, says, “It’s thrilling instances for me when after a long time of educational analysis involving drug and vaccine growth with colleagues at UCD, UCSF, and TCD, to see a lead drug candidate shifting into human medical trials. The AER-01 mucolytic drug has the potential to satisfy a variety of medical wants and to make a distinction to many lives.”