USA – Valitor, a Berkeley, CA-based biotechnology company, raised $28M in Series B funding.
The round was led by Morningside, with participation from First Spark Ventures, ExSight Ventures, Berkeley Catalyst Fund, and Pandect Bioventures.The company intends to use the funds to support its programs in ophthalmology and vision-threatening diseases, utilizing its Multivalent Polymer technology platform that originated at U.C. Berkeley.Led by CEO Steven Lo, President and CSO Wesley Jackson, and CDO William (Sandy) White, who joined founders Kevin Healy, Ph.D., and David Schaffer, Ph.D. Valitor is leveraging its biopolymer technology to engineer medicines that optimize how and where disease mechanisms are targeted to produce the most significant clinical impact. Valitor is initially focused on improving patient outcomes in ophthalmology and vision-threatening diseases. With the company’s platform, multiple copies of bioactive molecules can be combined with individual biopolymer chains to create novel macromolecular entities that are engineered to overcome a multitude of specific challenges for their target bioactive molecules and indications. The resulting MVP compounds can be engineered to overcome specific drug design challenges, including optimized pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic properties, target engagement, tissue localization, therapeutic durability, and safety. Accordingly, the company’s lead program, a novel anti-VEGF antibody treatment for wet AMD, is positioned to enable only a twice-yearly treatment, and it is currently entering IND-enabling studies.06/10/2022
