"la Caixa", through its management company Caixa Capital Risc, has led a €3.6 million financing round in the company Laboratorios Sanifit, located in Palma de Mallorca. The company is a spin off of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB).

The investment was made through the Caixa Innvierte BioMed II fund, a vehicle managed by Caixa Capital Risc with the participation of the Center for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), within the framework of the Innvierte Program, and with the minority participation of the Institut Català de Finances. The venture capital fund HealthEquity, the company Somtobir, the Nefrona Foundation and a group of private investors are also participating in the operation. This transaction is the largest investment round carried out this year in the biotechnology field.

Laboratoris Sanifit, created in 2007, is a Spanish biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of compounds against pathologies related to tissue and organ calcifications.

Experimental drug for hemodialysis patients

Sanifit has two lines of development. On the one hand, it has developed a range of products in the field of oral health, for the prevention of dental tartar. This line was licensed in 2013 to a leading multinational in the oral care sector and is currently working to close marketing agreements in the veterinary sector.

On the other hand, it is developing an experimental drug (SNF472) that offers two different indications: the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in hemodialysis patients and the treatment of calciphylaxis, a rare disease with a very high mortality rate (over 80%), which affects up to 4% of dialysis patients and drastically reduces the quality of life and life expectancy of its patients.

Sanifit's capital increase will enable it to take the SNF472 experimental drug project to the next stage of development: a Phase 1b/2a clinical trial to be carried out at the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona with dialysis patients. This drug has already passed Phase 1 studies in healthy volunteers.