Akebia Therapeutics Raises $5M in Series A Financing Round
Summary
Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., a Cincinnati, OH-based pharmaceutical discovery and development company focused on anemia and vascular disorders, has completed the $5m second tranche of its $17m Series A financing round., a Cincinnati, OH-based pharmaceutical discovery and development company focused on anemia and vascular disorders, has completed the $5m second tranche of its $17m Series Around.In conjunction with the funding, the company also announced that it has successfully completed a phase 1b study for AKB-6548 in healthy volunteers.AKB-6548 is an orally bioavailable hypoxia-inducible factor-prolyl hydroxylase (HIF-PH) inhibitor designed to increase the natural production of erythropoietin (EPO) in anemic patients.In early 2011, Akebia will begin phase 1 clinical trials for its innovative HPTPbeta inhibitor/Angiopoietin 2 modulator, AKB-9778, for the treatment of vascular leak syndrome and critical limb ischemia.