EIT Pharma Closes $35M Series A for Hepatitis D Drug
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EIT Pharma has closed an oversubscribed $35 million Series A led by Propel Bio Partners, with Good Ventures, Arrowtown and others taking part.
The company is based in Kirkland, Washington, and it is led by Leen Kawas, the former Athira Pharma chief executive who co-founded Propel Bio Partners and serves there as managing general partner.
The money is pointed at one asset. EIT Pharma says the round will support the FDA review of lonafarnib, an oral treatment candidate for chronic hepatitis D, along with manufacturing and commercial preparations, subject to regulatory approval. The agency accepted the company’s New Drug Application for review on August 11.
Chronic hepatitis D is a serious liver disease that occurs in people already infected with hepatitis B. The FDA approved the first U.S. treatment for it in May, Gilead’s injectable Hepcludex, known generically as bulevirtide-gmod. EIT Pharma is positioning lonafarnib as a potential oral alternative if it clears review.
The drug reached the company through an unusual route. Lonafarnib came out of the 2024 bankruptcy of Eiger BioPharmaceuticals in a court-supervised sale that closed that September. The same transaction brought over peginterferon lambda, which EIT Pharma is developing for severe respiratory infections.
The raise gives a small pharmaceutical developer the runway to carry a candidate through review and into launch preparation, which is a different kind of milestone from the discovery-stage rounds that dominate the sector.
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