Utrecht, the Netherlands — Gilde Healthcare today announces its investment in Breath Therapeutics, a company developing advanced drug-aerosol therapeutics in pulmonary orphan indications. Gilde Healthcare participated in a €43.5 million Series A financing round together with Sofinnova Partners (France) and GIMV (Belgium). With the proceeds from the financing, Breath Therapeutics plans to conduct phase 3 trials in Europe and the US, respectively, submit for marketing approval, and prepare for commercialization. Breath Therapeutics is a spin-off of Munich-based PARI Pharma and will be located in Germany.
Breath Therapeutics’ lead program is a first-in-class inhalation therapy for treatment of Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome (BOS). BOS is a lethal orphan respiratory disease, mainly affecting lung transplant patients. It is commonly understood as chronic graft rejection and is the main reason for the poor 5-year survival rates after lung transplantation.
The company’s founding and management team includes highly experienced executives and internationally renowned experts in drug aerosol and immunosuppression therapy. Arthur Franken, partner at Gilde Healthcare will join the board of directors.
Dr. Jens Stegemann, CEO of Breath Therapeutics, said:
“BOS is one of the most devastating lung diseases and still today, no effective therapy is available. Our strategy is to deposit high concentrations of an immunosuppressive agent directly into the small airways of the lung. With this top-tier group of investors and the best international lung transplantation centres supporting us, we now are in an excellent position to achieve ground-breaking improvements in the combat of BOS.”
Arthur Franken, partner at Gilde Healthcare, said:
“This talented team has designed a unique drug/device combination which together with remote digital adherence monitoring has great potential to improve quality of care for patients suffering from chronic lung graft rejection. Gilde will use its expertise and network to actively support Breath Therapeutics and its team in its growth strategy of developing and commercializing inhaled drug therapies for severe respiratory disease.”
About Gilde Healthcare
Gilde Healthcare (Utrecht, The Netherlands and Cambridge, USA) is a European specialist investment firm focused on private healthcare companies. It has over €800 million ($900 million) under management and is actively looking to lead new investments in therapeutics, medical devices, digital health and healthcare services. Gilde successfully builds healthcare businesses across Europe and US, investing up to €30 million in a single portfolio company. Gilde is currently investing out of GHC IV which is financed, in part, by the European Recovery Program-European Investment Fund Facility.
For a list of Gilde’s portfolio companies please visit the website at www.gildehealthcare.com.