Kala Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Thursday that it has secured $11.5 million in Series A equity financing.
New and lead investor, Crown Venture Fund, LLC, the venture capital arm of the Crown family of Chicago, joined Kala's existing investors, including Lux Capital Management, Polaris Venture Partners and Third Rock Ventures, the Waltham-based company said in a press release.
Kala Pharmaceuticals is developing products that are capable of penetrating mucosal barriers for the treatment of major diseases that affect the eyes, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, and female reproductive system. The company is initially focusing on ophthalmic programs.
"Kala's front of the eye drug delivery advantages and ability to topically deliver a wide variety of drugs to the back of the eye will transform the ophthalmology sector," Richard Robb, a representative for Crown Venture Fund, said in a statement.
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In a separate statement, Kala chief executive Guillaume Pfefer said, "This financing provides Kala with the resources to further deploy our technology as we focus our internal drug development efforts on innovative ophthalmic treatments while leveraging our platform to pursue collaborations for a range of other diseases where mucosal barriers have previously limited therapeutic efficacy.
One of Kala's cofounders is Robert Langer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@globe.com.