Resolve Therapeutics, LLC today announced that the company has raised $5.8 million in a Series B private-equity financing. The financing was led by previous investor New Science Ventures, with the participation of new investor WRF Capital (venture investment arm of Washington Research Foundation) and previous investor Easton Capital.

“These funds give Resolve the necessary resources to advance our investigational lupus compound RSLV-132 into clinical trials, which we expect to start in mid-2013,” said James Posada, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Resolve. “We are excited about this novel new approach to treating lupus, which eliminates the immune complexes that represent one of the central causes of the disease. More importantly, the leading pharmaceutical companies are excited by it as well, which portends a bright future for Resolve.”

“Resolve’s therapeutic approach and capital-efficient development model provide a unique and compelling investment opportunity for WRF Capital,” said Thong Q. Le, Managing Director at WRF Capital. “We are pleased to join New Science Ventures and Easton Capital to support the continued development of Resolve’s lead program RSLV-132.”

“Resolve has made significant progress in the development of RSLV-132, from the company’s formation around an academic concept developed at the University of Washington in early 2010 to the creation of a clinical candidate currently completing IND-enabling studies,” said Somu Subramaniam, Founder and Managing Partner of New Science Ventures. “To have achieved this accomplishment on total funding of less than $3 million to date is strong validation of Resolve’s business model for capital-efficient drug development.”

About New Science Ventures

New Science Ventures (NSV) is a New York-based venture capital firm which invests in both early and late stage companies using novel scientific approaches to address significant unmet needs and create order of magnitude improvements in performance. NSV manages over $150 million and has invested in more than 20 companies located in the US, Europe, India and China in the life sciences and information technology sectors.

About WRF Capital

WRF Capital is the venture investment arm of the Washington Research Foundation, an independent organization founded in 1981 to support research and scholarship at Washington state research institutions. A leading early-stage investor, WRF Capital partners with entrepreneurs, investors, local universities, and research institutions to develop market-leading technology companies. Proceeds from investments are used to make financial gifts to Washington State research institutions to support scholarship and research. Examples of WRF Capital's life science companies include Accelerator, Alder Biopharmaceuticals, Amnis (acquired by EMD Millipore), Cardeas Pharma, Corus Pharma (acquired by Gilead Sciences), Ekos, GlobeImmune, HaloSource (LSE: HALO.L), Hyperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ: HPTX), Ikaria, Lumera (NasdaqNM: LMRA), Mirador Biomedical, Omeros (NASDAQ: OMER), Pathway Medical Technologies (acquired by MEDRAD), Targeted Growth, VLST, and Uptake Medical. For more information, visit http://www.wrfcapital.com.

About Easton Capital

Easton Capital Investment Group manages approximately $200 million in several funds. Easton focuses on capital efficient paradigm shifting technologies in the life sciences that address fundamental needs. The firm is stage agnostic and invests primarily in the biotechnology, medical device and diagnostic sectors, though it has also backed service businesses in the past. Its investments have ranged in size from $1 million to $8.5 million. Easton has offices in New York and Florida.

About Resolve Therapeutics

Resolve Therapeutics is a privately held biotechnology company based in Seattle that is dedicated to helping patients with lupus through the development of RSLV-132, its novel targeted biologic therapy. RSLV-132 represents a new approach to inhibiting the production of interferon-alpha at a proximal step in the inflammatory cascade. A multitude of evidence points to interferon-alpha as a critical mediator of the inflammation present in lupus patients. Development efforts in this field are greatly enhanced by the recent clinical validation of a biomarker called the “interferon signature” which tracks the activation level of the interferon pathway in lupus patients. The interferon signature provides a valuable pharmacodynamic endpoint which greatly enhances the early clinical evaluation of drugs acting to inhibit the interferon pathway. RSLV-132 is currently in advanced preclinical development, and Resolve expects to begin human clinical studies with this compound in the near future. For more information please visit the Resolve Therapeutics website at http://www.resolvebio.com.