AlloCure Inc. Closes $14.5MM Series A Round to Develop a Stem Cell Therapy for Acute Kidney Injury

Biotech innovator develops new therapies based on cells manufactured from bone marrow; SV Life Sciences and Novo A/S provide funding round

SALT LAKE CITY and HAMBURG, Germany, July 2 – AlloCure Inc., a biotechnology company at the forefront of innovative cell therapies for the treatment of acute kidney injury, announced the closing of a $14.5MM Series A financing. The round was led by SV Life Sciences with Novo A/S joining the syndicate.

“This financing represents a significant step forward in developing the first cell therapy to effectively treat patients who are suffering from acute kidney injury,” said John Wirthlin President and CEO. “SV Life Sciences and Novo Ventures bring tremendous depth, experience and clout to our efforts. We look forward to working closely with our investors to successfully commercialize this unique and proprietary technology.”

Despite major advances over the past 30 years, acute kidney injury remains treatment resistant and presents a growing critical problem for a significant number of patients around the world.

“AlloCure has not only established itself as a leader in developing cell therapies to treat kidney patients,” said Lutz Giebel, Managing Partner of SV Life Sciences. “They have also built an attractive and sound business model addressing this growing and unmet medical need.”

The investment is key to furthering the company’s promising progress in developing these groundbreaking treatments and entering clinical trials. The company hopes to offer acute kidney injury patients a safe and effective treatment option for this life threatening disease in the not too distant future.

“The AlloCure team has developed an impressive scientific foundation which has enabled it to obtain all the regulatory approvals necessary to begin its Phase I Clinical Trial,” said Thomas Dyrberg, Senior Partner at Novo. “We anticipate that substantial clinical progress will be made over the next few years.”

The company will use the investment to fund the progression of its acute kidney disease therapy through Phase II Clinical Trials over the next three years. Funds will also be used to develop a robust pipeline targeting other large medical markets where its cell therapy technology can address chronic unmet needs.

About AlloCure

AlloCure is poised to become the first company to commercialize effective cell therapies to treat various kidney diseases, organ transplants, multi-organ injury and a number of other difficult to treat diseases. AlloCure has developed a proprietary process to manufacture cells derived from bone marrow which can be used in an allogeneic (does not require tissue matching of donor and recipient) or off-the-shelf setting. AlloCure’s technology has multiple therapeutic applications which have the potential to effectively address many large medical markets. 

About SV Life Sciences

SV Life Sciences is a venture capital fund providing financing to businesses at all stages of development across the human life sciences sector, including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and instruments, and healthcare information technology and services. SV Life Sciences currently manages or advises five funds with capital commitments of approximately $1.6 billion. 

About Novo A/B

Novo A/S is the holding company of the Novo Group, and is wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Novo A/S was established in 1999 to manage the assets of the Foundation and actively make investments on behalf of the Foundation. The Novo Ventures team consists of six Partners in Copenhagen, one in London and two in San Francisco. With an evergreen structure, Novo A/S annually invests approximately $100 million in venture capital into private life sciences companies, and thus acts at a pace comparable to a traditional $350-400 million fund. In total Novo A/S has more than $8 billion under management, which includes significant shareholdings in the independently operating and publicly listed companies Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S. www.novo.dk