Perceive Pharma closes funding for $15M Series A therapy

Author(s):

Grace Koennecke

Key Takeaways

Perceive Pharma raised $15M in Series A funding to develop neuroprotective therapeutics for glaucoma and other conditions.
Carol Gallagher joins Perceive Pharma's board, enhancing strategic direction and business contributions.
Current glaucoma treatments focus on intraocular pressure, but Perceive's therapies target neuroprotection for patients with normal pressures.
Lead candidate PBI-671, identified through genomic screening, aims to prevent vision loss in glaucoma and other diseases.

The funding will help further the glaucoma program alongside new board member Carol Gallagher.

(Image Credit: AdobeStock/Volodymyr Shevchuk)

Perceive Pharma announced the closing of a $15M Series A funding round from companies Deerfield Management, Johnson & Johnson, Braidwell LP, GV, the Retinal Degeneration Fund, and Catalio Captial Management, LP. The funding will accelerate the development of Perceive Pharma’s neuroprotective therapeutics in glaucoma and other conditions. The company also welcomed Carol Gallagher of Pharm. D. to the Perceive Pharma Board as an independent board director.

"We are delighted by Carol's addition to the board and welcome her contributions across the business," Cameron Wheeler, partner at Deerfield Management, said. "We look forward to working with our syndicate partners as Perceive Pharma continues to build compelling preclinical evidence of ophthalmic neuroprotection in key models of glaucoma."

The neuroprotective therapeutics were first tested in a genomic screening by Perceive Pharma’s co-founders Don Zack and Derek Welsbie, who since have collaborated with a key industry partner to place Perceive Pharma with a variety of neuroprotective drug candidates, including its lead therapeutic candidate, PBI-671. The Series A funding will now advance the development of the therapies to prevent vision loss in glaucoma and other additional undisclosed disease areas.

"All approved drugs for glaucoma target the lowering of intraocular pressure, but about half of glaucoma patients have normal pressures and continue to lose vision," K. Angela Macfarlane, CEO, said. "The deep science underlying the identification of Perceive's targets differentiates its programs and provides promise for new, transformative treatments for sight-saving therapies for the more than 1.5 million Americans and others worldwide with glaucoma whose disease is continuing to progress, despite access to current treatments."

Reference:

Perceive Pharma Attracts $15M Series A Financing to Advance Ophthalmic Neuroprotection. Perceive Pharma, Inc. Accessed February 24, 2025. Perceive Pharma Attracts $15M Series A Financing to Advance Ophthalmic Neuroprotection