Via Nova Therapeutics Announces $20 Million Series A Financing from Aditum Bio to Advance Four Antiviral Programs

OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Via Nova Therapeutics announced today that it has closed its Series A financing and raised $20 million from Aditum Bio to advance the development of four preclinical antiviral programs in-licensed from Novartis. The firm, founded by virologists Don Ganem, MD and Kelly Wong, PhD, was established to discover and develop therapeutics for acute and subacute viral infections for which current treatments are lacking or inadequate. The current programs at Via Nova were part of an antiviral portfolio led by the founders while at Novartis and target several important respiratory viruses (including influenza viruses, adenoviruses and rhinoviruses) as well as human polyomaviruses, which produce severe disease in immunocompromised hosts. The firm targets fundamental mechanisms of viral replication and accordingly can support discovery of novel therapeutics for other viral infections as well.

"These infections have important clinical consequences but have been underserved by the therapeutic community," said Dr. Ganem, Via Nova's CEO. "Our relationship with Aditum creates opportunities to bring these innovative therapies efficiently to the clinic - and to discover additional antivirals in the future."

"Aditum Bio is proud to partner with Via Nova to build an antiviral platform, starting with these founding programs," said Joe Jimenez, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Aditum Bio. "Don Ganem's reputation as one of the best virologists in the world gives us confidence that he and his team will build an enduring company in the space."  

About Aditum Bio

Aditum Bio is committed to improving public health by accelerating R&D in disease areas with both large and more targeted patient populations, where medical innovation can have a huge impact. Aditum Bio focuses on basic mechanisms of disease, in-licenses promising drug candidates directed at such pathophysiologies, and spins-out individual companies dedicated to bringing each candidate through Phase II clinical trials. In partnership with TrialSpark, Aditum Bio uses data, software and technology to help bring innovative medicines through the clinical trial phase more quickly and with lower costs than traditional pharmaceutical companies.  For more information, please visit www.aditumbio.com.

SOURCE Via Nova Therapeutics