Funding will support Phase II trial with bone marrow-derived mesenchymal SC treatment.

AlloCure has closed a $25 million Series B venture financing that included participation of new syndicate member Lundbeckfond Ventures as well as previous investors SV Life Sciences and Novo. The company is developing AC607, an allogeneic mesenchymal stem cell therapy, for acute kidney injury (AKI) and believes that the funding will allow it to complete Phase II trials.

“A treatment for AKI is an important unmet medical need, recognized by the recent fast track designation granted to AC607 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in this indication,” remarks Robert M. Brenner, M.D., AlloCure president and CEO. “Building on the encouraging AC607 Phase I results presented last fall at the American Society of Nephrology annual meeting, AlloCure is poised to conduct a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of AC607 for the treatment of AKI beginning this summer at a number of the leading academic institutions and hospitals in the United States.”

AC607 comprises allogeneic bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells that are harvested from healthy adult donors and then expanded. AC607 homes to the site of injury where it mediates anti-inflammatory and organ-repair processes via the secretion of beneficial paracrine factors without differentiation and repopulation of the injured kidney. Importantly, AC607 avoids recognition by the host’s immune system, enabling administration in an “off the shelf” paradigm without the need for blood or tissue typing.

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