KalGene Pharmaceuticals Closes Financing to Support the Clinical Development of its Alzheimer's Therapeutic

MONTREAL and TORONTO, Nov. 27, 2017 /CNW/ - KalGene Pharmaceuticals Inc. today announced the closing of a Series A financing to support the advancement of its lead Alzheimer's therapeutic program.  The syndicated investment was led by Lumira Capital and included participation from Anges Québec, Anges Québec Capital, Accel-Rx Health Sciences Accelerator and a number of Canadian family offices.  In addition to the equity financing the company has also received significant financial support from leading Foundations focused on neurodegenerative diseases.  Proceeds from these combined funding sources will support the development of KalGene's lead Alzheimer's therapeutic candidate.

"We've followed the development of this program for many years and have been working directly with the team for the last year on this opportunity. During the past year, one of Lumira's advisors, Dr. John Gillard, joined the company as Vice President Drug Development to advance the lead product to the clinic," said Daniel Hetu, Managing Director at Lumira Capital.

"The company has made terrific progress as a result of its work with a number of key collaboration partners.  These partners include; the National Research Council of Canada, McGill University, where a number of the lead clinicians and researchers are located, and a number of agencies and foundations that continue to provide non-dilutive capital and innovation support including the Weston Brain Institute, Consortium Québécois sur la découverte du médicament (CQDM), Brain Canada and Ontario Brain Institute," noted Jacki Jenuth, Partner at Lumira Capital.

"Anges Québec members and Anges Québec Capital were impressed by the quality of the science behind KalGene and their approach to Alzheimer's treatments. We know that important challenges lie ahead in this race to tackle Alzheimer's disease, but we are confident that the KalGene team has what it takes to succeed", said François Gilbert, CEO of Anges Québec and Anges Québec Capital.

"One of the biggest obstacles to treating Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases is delivering therapeutics past the blood-brain barrier," said Natalie Dakers, President and CEO of Accel-Rx.  "We are pleased to be part of the team enabling KalGene to advance the development of its innovative solution to this problem, buoying hopes for an effective new treatment for this devastating disease."

"We are very pleased to close on this financing which will allow us to complete our preclinical studies and move our program into the clinic and eventually have an impact on patients' lives."  said Dr. T. Nathan Yoganathan, President and Chief Scientific Officer of KalGene.

About KalGene Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

KalGene Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a pre-clinical stage company focussed on the development of precision medicine therapeutics to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Kalgene Pharmaceutical's lead, KAL-ABP, targeting toxic amyloid beta oligomers, has been shown in animal models of Alzheimer's Disease to cross the blood-brain barrier and to significantly reduce the plaque burden, leading to improved cognition and neuronal connectivity.

For more information contact Kalgene at info@kalgene.com, www.kalgene.com.