KalVista Pharmaceuticals, a research-led pharmaceutical company, has raised $33 million in a Series B financing to support its research and clinical development programs. KalVista says it will use the funds to advance its proprietary portfolio of plasma kallikrein inhibitors for treating diabetic macular edema (DME) and hereditary angioedema (HAE). Alongside the existing investors, Novo A/S and SV Life Sciences, the round included additional international healthcare investors experienced in plasma kallikrein targeted mechanisms led by RA Capital Management and including Longwood Fund and Venrock.

Rajeev Shah, managing director and portfolio manager at RA Capital and Rich Aldrich, co-founder and partner of Longwood Fund, will join the KalVista board of directors. Bong Koh, a partner at Venrock, and Tomas Kiselak, a managing director at RA Capital, will join the board as observers.

“This financing round attracted significant demand from major healthcare investors and we are delighted with this vote of confidence in our strategy to develop best-in-class plasma kallikrein inhibitors in serious diseases,” said Andrew Crockett, KalVista’s chief executive officer. “This financing will allow us to rapidly advance our programs in DME and HAE towards important clinical proof of concept milestones and bring much-needed treatments to patients. We are now in a very strong position to drive the growth of KalVista, and achieve the full potential of our therapeutic pipeline.”

KalVista has developed and patented a diverse pipeline of selective and potent plasma kallikrein inhibitors designed for different routes of administration. The Series B financing will enable the company to accelerate the advancement of these drug candidates through to clinical testing for multiple disease indications. The most advanced program, an intravitreally administered plasma kallikrein inhibitor has just completed its first-in-human study and will move into Phase 2 trials in 2016 for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME).