SAN DIEGO /PRNewswire/ -- Aristea Therapeutics (Aristea), a clinical-stage drug development company developing novel therapies to treat serious inflammatory diseases, today announced that it has secured $15M from Novo Holdings A/S (Novo Holdings) in a completed Series A financing.  Aristea has also obtained exclusive global rights to its lead program RIST4721, from AstraZeneca. Aristea plans to initiate a Phase 2 clinical study in early 2019. In connection with the financing, Tiba Aynechi, Ph.D and Ken Harrison, Ph.D from Novo Ventures (US), Inc have been appointed to Aristea's Board of Directors.

The Aristea team has deep experience in the development and commercialization of novel medicines, highlighted by eight previous drug product approvals in a broad range of therapeutic categories including neuroscience, diabetes/metabolic diseases, inflammation, oncology and infectious diseases.  Aristea's Founder, President and CEO, James Mackay, was formerly President and CEO of Ardea Biosciences (acquired by AstraZeneca in 2012).  Prior to Ardea, Mackay held senior executive positions at AstraZeneca where he led the development and commercialization of drugs across a range of therapy areas.  The Aristea team will leverage their collective industry expertise and proven success in drug development and commercialization to form synergistic partnerships and build a pipeline of novel drugs.  

"At Aristea, we are passionate drug developers who are committed to bringing new medicines to patients through a focused, diligent and agile approach. We believe that this approach, coupled with the financial support from Novo Holdings, and our proven track record in drug development, will give Aristea a significant advantage in building a valuable pipeline," said James Mackay, President and CEO of Aristea Therapeutics. "We look forward to building out the organization and advancing RIST4721 through Phase 2."

"We are very pleased to be backing an experienced team with deep insight into the lead program. We look forward to supporting them as they develop a drug that can meaningfully improve the lives of patients with conditions for which there are no approved therapies today," said Tiba Aynechi, Partner, Novo Ventures.

About Novo Holdings

Novo Holdings is a Danish private limited liability company wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The company is the holding company in the Novo Group, comprising Novo Nordisk A/S, Novozymes A/S and NNIT A/S, and is responsible for managing the Foundation's assets. In addition to being the major shareholder in the Novo Group companies, Novo Holdings provides seed and venture capital to development-stage companies, takes significant ownership positions in well-established companies within life science and manages a broad portfolio of financial assets. Novo Ventures (US), Inc. is wholly owned by Novo Holdings and provides consulting services to Novo Holdings. Read more at www.novoholdings.dk.

Contact:

Amy Conrad
Juniper Point
858-366-3243 
amy@juniper-point.com