Sanifit raise €72.2m to push SNF472 development

The €72m Series D financing round was led by Caixa Capital Risc and co-financed by new investors Columbus Venture Partners and Alta Life Sciences and existing investors including Lundbeckfonden Ventures, Ysios Capital, Forbion Capital Partners , Gilde Healthcare, Andera Partners, HealthEquity  and private investors. The financing combines a €55.2m Series D round with a capitalisation of €17m of convertible bonds. It is the largest fundraise completed by a private biotechnology company in Spain. Upon the financing Guy Paul Nohra (Alta Life Sciences) and Damià Tormo (Columbus Venture Partners) were added to the Board of Sanifit as non-executive directors.

The company said it will use the proceeds to push its lead candidate SNF472 into pivotal Phase III testing for treatment of calciphylaxis, an orphan progressive vascular calcification disorder. Calciphylaxis leads to the death of about 55% of patients within the first year of diagnosis because severe cardiovascular calcification blocks small blood vessels in skin and fat tissue.

SNF472 is an intravenous formulation of myo-inositol hexaphosphate that inhibits formation and growth of hydroxyapatite crystals, the final common step in vascular calcification pathophysiology. In Phase II studies, SNF472 met both its primary and secondary endpoints in calciphylaxis patients. Sanifit is currently preparing a pivotal phase 3 CUA study for SNF472 in Europe and the US, which is anticipated to start in Q4 2019.

SNF472 is also currently being assessed in a Phase IIb proof of concept study. This trial will assess the effect of SNF472 in reducing the progression of cardiovascular calcification (CVC) in haemodialysis patients and is expected to read out in Q4/19. Accelerated CVC i.e. leads to Peripheral Arterial Disease or Cardiovascular Disease, which represent near-term opportunities for the company.