Altesa BioSciences Closes Oversubscribed $75 Million Series B Financing to Transform Treatment of Chronic Lung Disease

Congratulations to the team at Altesa BioSciences and CEO Dr. Brett Giroir for their collective success achieving an oversubscribed $75 million Series B round of financing as the Atlanta-based biotech continues its mission to transform the treatment of COPD, asthma and chronic lung disease. It’s a fantastic development I’m proud to be associated with in both a business and health policy context.

At the outset of involvement with Altesa, like many, I didn’t realize that rhinoviruses are the leading cause of acute COPD flare-ups, driving hospitalizations and accelerated lung decline.

As a former heavy smoker for too many years out working on political campaigns — where nicotine and caffeine routinely substituted for sleep and meals — I set myself up for potential problems later in life.

While I’m thankfully not diagnosed with COPD — and hope to avoid it — I’ve learned firsthand how a simple cold or flu can quickly morph into multi-week pneumonia if I’m not careful, as I discovered last winter. For lack of a better phrase, it rocked my world and got my immediate attention.

With more than 170 distinct rhinovirus strains, developing a vaccine or monoclonal antibody isn’t feasible. Direct-acting antiviral therapy represents the most viable pharmaceutical strategy for addressing rhinovirus infections in COPD patients.

Altesa’s medicine, vapendavir, is currently the only direct-acting antiviral in development targeting rhinovirus. It is Phase 2b–ready and already supported by a sizable safety database for this stage.

The new Series B financing will support a Phase 2b multinational, randomized, placebo-controlled trial enrolling 900 COPD patients in the U.S. and U.K. The objective is to demonstrate that treating rhinovirus respiratory infections can improve symptoms, hasten resolution of illness, maintain quality of life, and potentially reduce the need for advanced medical interventions.

This study builds on Altesa’s recently completed rhinovirus Challenge Study in COPD patients, in which vapendavir improved upper and lower airway symptoms, reduced illness duration and inflammatory markers, and better maintained small-airway lung function compared to placebo.