Kala Pharmaceuticals, a developer of products that effectively penetrate the mucosal barrier to treat various debilitating diseases, has received $11.5m in Series A equity financing round, led by new and existing investors.
Kala said Crown Venture Fund is the new and lead investor who joined its existing investors including Lux Capital Management, Polaris Venture Partners and Third Rock Ventures.
The company will use the capital to advance a portfolio of new ophthalmic programs based on its Mucosal Penetrating Product (MPP) platform through clinical proof of concept.
The advanced programs focus on topical treatment of ocular inflammation and wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
In addition to development of ocular diseases drugs, Kala is pursuing collaborations with partners in other disease areas where its proprietary MPP platform can be applied to serious diseases that involve mucosal tissues such as the lung, the gastrointestinal tract, and the female reproductive system.
Kala Pharmaceuticals CEO Guillaume Pfefer said, "This financing provides Kala with the resources to further deploy our technology as we focus our internal drug development efforts on innovative ophthalmic treatments while leveraging our platform to pursue collaborations for a range of other diseases where mucosal barriers have previously limited therapeutic efficacy."
