Sitari Pharmaceuticals Raises $10M in Series A Financing
Summary
Sitari Pharmaceuticals, a San Diego, CA-based developer of treatments for multiple disease indications, with an initial focus on celiac disease, raised $10m in Series A financing.The company, which has been formed and funded by Avalon Ventures and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), intends to use the funds for R&D support and development of novel treatments for celiac disease.GSK has the option to acquire Sitari upon the identification of a clinical candidate.Based on intellectual property in-licensed from the laboratory of Chaitan Khosla, Ph.D., professor of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at Stanford University and Director of the Stanford Institute for Chemical Biology, Sitari Pharmaceuticals is targeting the Transglutaminase 2 (TG2) pathway for the development of treatments for multiple disease indications, with an initial focus in celiac disease.Should GSK elect not to exercise this option, Sitari ownership will remain with Avalon, and Avalon will be free to enter into other strategic transactions.