Cara Therapeutics closes Series D financing of $15 million

Cara Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that it had closed on a Series D financing of $15 million.  The round was led by new investor, Rho Ventures, with participation from previous investors Alta Biopharma, Ascent Biomedical Ventures, CT Innovations, Devon Park BioVentures, Healthcare Private Equity, Mitsubishi International Corporation and MVM Life Science Partners. In conjunction with the financing, Martin Vogelbaum, a partner at Rho Ventures, will join Cara's Board of Directors. The Series D financing will be used primarily for the continued clinical development of Cara's lead peripherally restricted kappa opioid agonist, CR845, for the treatment of post-operative pain.  Cara has raised more than $43M since inception.

"There has been little innovation in post-operative pain treatment where opioid use continues to be the standard of care even though it is associated with significant side effects which present an ongoing pharmacoeconomic burden for hospitals.  Due to its peripheral activity and lack of CNS penetration, we believe Cara's CR845 has a chance to provide opioid-like pain relief while significantly reducing opioid use and its associated side effects," said Martin Vogelbaum, partner at Rho Ventures.  "We have been impressed with the progress that the Cara team have made to date with CR845 and look forward to working with them as CR845 progresses through the clinic."

"We are very pleased to welcome Rho Ventures as our newest investor and we look forward to benefiting from Martin's considerable experience as we continue the clinical development of CR845," said Derek Chalmers, President and CEO of Cara Therapeutics.