Renovion Adds $350K to Lung Disease Drug Development Coffers

Renovion, a Durham pharmaceutical company developing a therapy for chronic inflammatory airway diseases, has added $350,000 in private equity to the $1.8 million raised in 2017.

The company’s pre-clinical nebulized therapy, called Arina-1, is based on a decade of research and discoveries at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Renovion hopes to establish Arina-1 as the first FDA-approved twice-daily nebulized therapy for lung transplant patients, among other indications.
 
Other disease targets for the technology include cystic fibrosis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ventilator-associated pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. 

The company says the drug candidate has shown antibacterial, mucus transport and anti-inflammatory potential. Renovion says it has completed a successful pre-IND meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The company, formed in 2013, established an early headquarters in the North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s Landing Pad office space before moving to its Duke Street facility in late 2016. Daniel Copeland is CEO and Carolyn Durham is COO.