Ann Arbor area biotech startup lands $34 million to develop kidney inflammation treatment

By Nathan Bomey Business news director

Posted on Wed, Jan 4, 2012 : 2:01 p.m.

Pittsfield Township startup CytoPherx Inc. secured access to $34 million in venture capital to accelerate the development of a therapy that it believes will improve the lives of patients who suffer from a severe form of kidney injury.

CytoPherx said today in a news release that it had landed the cash from several different firms, including leading investors Early Stage Partners, which has an Ann Arbor office, as well as Silicon Valley-based ONSET Ventures and Milwaukee-based Capital MidWest Fund.

One of the company's earliest investors, North Coast Technology Investors, which has an office in downtown Ann Arbor, contributed some cash in the investment round. Several other firms also invested.

The deal reflects the largest round of venture capital investment for a Michigan startup since Cerenis Therapeutics, which is dual-headquartered in Ann Arbor and France, landed a $51.7 million investment.

CytoPherx is developing a device that would be attached to a renal replacement circuit and "is designed to focus on acute systemic inflammation that is not well addressed with currently available therapies," sometimes in patients whose inflammation is so severe it could lead to death, the company said in a statement.

CytoPherx CEO Jim Danehy said it's "a multi-billion dollar potential market opportunity."

The company, founded by H. David Humes, recently launched an early-stage clinical trial involving 344 patients at hospitals throughout the country.

Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.

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