Potentia raises $5M to fund POT-4 development

USA-based Potentia Pharmaceuticals has closed a $5.0 million round of financing. The funds will be used in part to support the preclinical and clinical development of the company's main drug candidate, POT-4, which is is a derivative of Compstatin, a peptide that inhibits complement activation. POT-4 is initially being developed for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Potentia explained that complement activation is an inflammatory process involving dozens of plasma proteins, ultimately leading to cell membrane disruption through the membrane attack complex (MAC). Activation of the complement system is an important part of the body's defensive immune response against pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. In spite of its defensive function, inappropriate or excessive complement activation can have destructive consequences if left unchecked. Over the past two years, multiple scientific publications have strongly linked variants of genes encoding components of the complement system with a predisposition toward AMD, the company notes.