Led by Giroir, Altesa to advance antiviral with $75M series B: Finance Report

An Atlanta-area company led by a former acting FDA commissioner has drawn $75 million in series B cash to support Phase IIb testing of an antiviral for COPD patients.

Forbion led the round for Altesa BioSciences Inc., investing alongside Medicxi, Pitango and Atlantic Partners. Altesa’s lead program is vapendavir, a small molecule inhibitor of HRV capsid in development to prevent exacerbations of rhinovirus infection in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The antiviral has already completed a rhinovirus challenge study in COPD patients...