Ashvattha Therapeutics secures $50M in financing to advance clinical trials

Ashvattha Therapeutics announced it has received additional funding of up to $50 million from investors Tribe Capital and Natural Capital. The funding will assist with the extension of its Series B and enable Ashvattha to complete the ongoing Phase 2 ophthalmology trial and Phase 1/2 neuroinflammation trial.

“We believe Ashvattha is a broad platform for HDTs to target and reprogram activated innate immune cells in the human body,” Arjun Sethi, chief investment officer of Tribe Capital, said. “These cells are implicated in inflammation, cancer, heart disease, aging disorders, autoimmune and neurological diseases. Built on over twenty years of work at Johns Hopkins, with four safety studies and three Phase 2a trials under the belt, we believe the platform of over one hundred HDTs has reached a point where we can see its impact on the human population in the next few years.”

The current Phase 2 study in wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME) patients is studying the proprietary nanomedicine, migaldendranib, which is subcutaneously given every 2 or 4 weeks for up to 40 weeks after a single intravitreal injection of aflibercept. For patients completing 24 weeks in the study, researchers have found a substantial reduction in the need for supplemental aflibercept compared to 24 weeks prior to enrollment.

“These interim results validate our novel approach of developing an at-home subcutaneous injection to treat both eyes in patients with bilateral disease from a single administration,” Jeff Cleland, PhD, CEO of Ashvattha Therapeutics, said. “Unlike all other clinical-stage approaches, we have demonstrated a benefit to patients with bilateral disease with a well-tolerated systemic therapy. Over 40% of wet AMD and over 90% of DME subjects in our trial had bilateral disease that would require both eyes to receive injections of current products or clinical candidates. We look forward to sharing detailed results at upcoming medical conferences in 2025.”

The interim results will be presented at the Angiogenesis meeting on February 8, 2025.

Reference:

1. Ashvattha Therapeutics Announces $50 Million Financing Extension and Interim Phase 2 Ophthalmology Trial Results. News release. GlobeNewswire. Accessed January 13, 2025. Ashvattha Therapeutics Announces $50 Million Financing