The company announces the completion of series A round of financing, intended to provide funds for completion of pre-clinical development of its lead candidate, GS-248.

A consortium of seasoned life sciences investors will provide financial and strategic support to the development program and bring the company to its next pivotal milestone, to initiate clinical trials of GS-248 in 2019. In connection with this series A financing round, the pharma executives Gunnar Olsson, MD/PhD and former Vice President & Head of Cardiovascular & Gastrointestinal Dis., Global R&D, Astrazeneca and Maarten de Château, MD/PhD, co-founder and former CEO of Cormorant Pharmaceuticals AB, has joined the Board of Directors of Gesynta Pharma.

“We are extremely pleased to see the commitment of our current and new owners to providing the resources needed to prepare GS-248 for a first clinical trial. Our strategy is to quickly demonstrate clinical proof-of-concept for mPGES-1 modulation in novel indications, and the addition of financial resources and top-notch pharmaceutical board expertise is a prerequisite to progress effectively” says Patric Stenberg, CEO of Gesynta Pharma AB.

GS-248 is part of the OX-MPI development program which Gesynta Pharma AB acquired from Swedish pharmaceutical company Orexo AB last year. GS-248 is a highly selective inhibitor of the inducible enzyme microsomal prostaglandin E synthase 1 (mPGES-1) implicated in a broad range of inflammatory conditions. In the coming year, the focus will be to confirm its safety and tolerability in preclinical studies and to manufacture material for a clinical development program targeting niche indications in chronic inflammation.