KalVista raises £8 million from investors for DME treatment development pipeline

SOUTHAMPTON, England — KalVista Pharmaceuticals, a startup company devoted to developing treatments for diabetic macular edema, has raised £8 million in series A funding from leading life science investors Novo Ventures and SV Life Sciences, according to a news release.

The company is developing small-molecule plasma kallikrein inhibitors delivered through intravitreal injection and oral administration for the treatment of DME. KalVista acquired the inhibitors and related intellectual property from Vantia Therapeutics.

"Diabetic macular edema remains one of the major challenges in ophthalmology and is a leading cause of visual loss in the developed world," Lloyd Paul Aiello, MD, PhD, one of the company's founders, said in the release. "While new advances such as VEGF inhibitors are a breakthrough in treatment, current evidence demonstrates that a substantial number of patients with DME do not respond fully. I believe KalVista's approach, targeting a novel non-VEGF pathway, could represent a further important step in treating this condition."

Plasma kallikrein, a circulating serine protease, is believed to play a role in the pathogenesis of DME. It acts independently of VEGF, the most common target in the treatment of DME.

Intravitreal VEGF inhibitors have been shown to reduce macular edema and improve vision. However, a large percentage of DME patients do not respond fully to VEGF treatment, the release said.