Priothera closes €30m Series A financing

The Irish cancer specialist Priothera Limited said it will use the the proceed sto advance its S1P receptor modulator mocravimod to Ohase IIb/III testing in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) undergoing stem cell transplantation. Mocravimod is designed to enhance the curative potential of allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for treating AML. The compound was licenced from Japanese KYORIN Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd which acquired KRP-203 from Novartis in 2016. It has already been clinically tested in iulcerative colitits but has shown a survival benefit in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).

S1P receptor modulators have already been approved in multiple sclerosis and are in mid-stage testing in patientis with lupus erythrematoides. They seem to reduce the amount of activated proliferating T cells. 

The financing round was  led by Fountain Healthcare Partners with participation from co-lead investor HealthCap and funds managed by Tekla Capital  Management, LLC as well as EarlyBird Venture Capital.

Following the closing of the financing, Florent Gros (Priothera’s Co-Founder and CEO), Dr. Dhaval Patel (Priothera’s Co-Founder and CSO at UCB), Dr. Manus Rogan (Fountain Healthcare Partners Co-Founder and Managing Director), Dr. Mårten Steen (Partner at HealthCap), Dr. Henry Skinner (Senior Vice President at Tekla Capital Management, LLC) and Lionel Carnot (Partner at EarlyBird Venture Capital), have joined the Board of Directors.