Palladio Biosciences acquires global rights to develop Lixivaptan

Palladio Biosciences announced that it has acquired global rights to lixivaptan from Chiesi USA to  develop it for Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), an orphan kidney disease for which there are no drug treatments approved in the United States.

In conjunction with the lixivaptan acquisition, Palladio closed on a Series A venture round led by Medicxi, one of Europe’s largest dedicated life sciences venture capital firms.  Michele Ollier, MD, Partner and co-founder of Medicxi, and Jonathan Edwards, Ph.D. principal at Medicxi, have joined the Board of Directors of Palladio Biosciences.

Palladio Founder and CEO, Lorenzo Pellegrini said that they are very pleased to be developing lixivaptan as their first product. They believe that lixivaptan may be able to delay the progression of PKD, thus decreasing the need for dialysis and/or kidney transplant and potentially extending the lives of patients with PKD.

Chiesi USA, Inc. President and CEO,  Ken McBean said that they are pleased to have completed this transaction with Palladio Biosciences in an effort to bring this important medicine to PKD patients worldwide. As a company focused on developing treatments to address important unmet medical needs, they are glad that Palladio is committed to the development of this product.