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| KAI Pharmaceuticals Closes Series A Financing Round at $28 Million |
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October 26, 2004 Funds to support clinical and preclinical development into 2006 South San Francisco, CA – October 26, 2004 – KAI Pharmaceuticals Inc., an emerging drug discovery and development company, announced today the completion of an $11 Million closing of its Series A financing round, bringing the total amount raised since inception to $28 Million. Participants in the Series A financing included Skyline Ventures, InterWest Partners, Intersouth Partners, Delphi Ventures, Thomas Weisel Venture Partners, and MDS Capital. This financing extends KAI’s financial runway into 2006 and provides the resources needed to fund the ongoing Phase I/II trial of KAI-9803, a program that has received ‘Fast Track’ designation from the FDA for the treatment of reperfusion injury following acute myocardial infarction, or heart attack. In addition, KAI will continue to pursue its preclinical programs and expand its management team. “We have an experienced and highly respected group of investors that bring strategic value to KAI in addition to financial support,” said Steve James, president and CEO of KAI Pharmaceuticals. “I would like to welcome our new investors, Thomas Weisel Venture Partners and MDS Capital, as well as thank all of our investors for sharing in KAI’s vision to develop important human therapeutics based upon modulation of specific protein kinase C (PKC) isozymes.” “PKC isozymes have been promising targets for drug discovery based on their involvement in the regulation of disease pathways. However, the challenge has been to target the PKC isozyme of interest without affecting similar isozymes in the PKC family,” said Yasunori Kaneko, M.D. of Skyline Ventures and Chairman of KAI’s Board of Directors. “KAI has been able to overcome this major roadblock in kinase regulation with proprietary methods to develop specific inhibitors and activators for each isozyme in the PKC family.”
About KAI Pharmaceuticals |
