A biotechnology company spun out of Johns Hopkins has raised $32 million to fuel its efforts to make drugs to treat rare genetic diseases.
Vita Therapeutics announced the closure of its oversubscribed Series A round on Wednesday. The round was led by New York biotechnology investor Cambrian BioPharma, with participation from Kiwoom Bio, SCM Life Sciences and Early Light Ventures. The funding will be used to further the development and testing of new treatments for muscular dystrophy.
Vita specializes in stem cell engineering, and is specifically developing cells that have the capability to continue to replicate and support muscle regeneration in patients. The startup spun out of Johns Hopkins in 2019, based around exclusively licensed technology that was originally invented by Dr. Kathryn Wagner, director of the Center for Genetic Muscle Disorders at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, and Gabsang Lee, an associate professor of neurology and neuroscience at Hopkins.
CEO Douglas Falk has said Vita and its technology is previously backed by $2.3 million in seed funding, which Vita raised in January last year, as well as about $1.8 million in grant funding from various sources, including the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund and the National Institutes of Health. The company operates out of space at the FastForward incubator and accelerator space on Johns Hopkins' medical campus.
The company is currently working on several drug therapies aimed at treating muscular dystrophies, a group of genetic diseases that affect an estimated 250,000 people in the U.S., according to the National Organization for Rare Diseases.
“At [Vita] our mission is to deliver long-term disease-modifying cell engineered treatments for patients living with muscular dystrophies and other high unmet medical needs,” Falk said in statements. “We are pleased this high-caliber group of new and existing investors share our enthusiasm and belief in Vita’s ability to progress our innovative treatments to help these patients.”
Vita’s lead therapy, called VTA-100, has already undergone preclinical trials and is intended to help repair and regenerate healthy muscle in patients limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, a group of disorders that cause weakness and degeneration of certain muscles, specifically in the shoulders, upper arms, pelvic area and thighs.
Falk said in statements the new funding will allow Vita to complete additional trials that will position VTA-100 for an Investigational New Drug (IND) application. IND designations by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are given to experimental drugs that show promise in clinical testing for serious or immediately life-threatening conditions.
The new financing will also support cell manufacturing and patient recruitment for clinical trials. And it will be used to further the development of other drugs in Vita's pipeline, including VTA-200, which is being designed designed to treat multiple types of muscular dystrophy.
