Caldan calls in $2.4m

Caldan Therapeutics, a UK-based metabolic disease therapy developer exploiting research from University of Glasgow and University of Southern Denmark, secured £2m ($2.4m) on Tuesday in a round led by research charity LifeArc.
LifeArc invested $1.8m to lead the round, which was also backed by venture capital firm Epidarex Capital.
Founded in 2015, Caldan is developing drugs intended to activate free fatty acid receptors associated with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (Nash), where fat accumulates in the liver and potentially causes scarring.
As many as one in eight UK adults is thought to be affected by Nash, raising concerns over extra stress placed on the National Health Service as more patients require liver transplants or treatment for scarring.
Caldan’s approach exploits the GPR120 free fatty acid receptor to influence the onset of Nash throughout several stages. GPR120 has previously attracted interest for its potential to treat type 2 diabetes, another of the spinout’s target indications.
The capital will help Caldan optimise a lead candidate to bring into the latter phases of preclinical development.
Caldan’s founding research was pioneered in the labs of Graeme Milligan, Gardiner chair of biochemistry at University of Glasgow’s Institute of Molecular Cell and Systems Biology, and Trond Ulven, then a professor in University of Southern Denmark’s Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy.
The company had previously received $6.9m in a 2015 series A round led by Epidarex Capital and backed by Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of devolved economic development agency Scottish Enterprise.