Earlier this week, San Diego startup Gallant announced $18 million in funding to bring the first FDA-approved ready-to-use stem cell therapy to veterinary medicine. If it passes regulatory muster, it could create a whole new way to treat our fur babies.
It’s still an experimental field, even though people have been researching stem cells for humans for decades. Seven-year-old Gallant’s first target is a painful mouth condition in cats called Feline Chronic Gingivostomatitis (FCGS), which Gallant says could receive FDA approval by early 2026.
The field has shown some encouraging early results. Studies on dogs with arthritis showed improvements in pain and mobility, with some benefits lasting up to two years. But when researchers tried similar treatments for kidney disease in cats — that’s another condition Gallant wants to tackle — the results were more mixed.
What makes Gallant’s approach different is convenience. Most stem cell treatments today require harvesting cells from the patient or donors with matching tissue, whereas Gallant’s therapy uses ready-to-use cells from donor animals, even if they are a different species.
Investors clearly see potential here. The funding round was led by existing backer Digitalis Ventures, with participation from NovaQuest Capital Management, which previously invested in the first FDA-approved human stem cell therapy.
The company has an interesting backstory. Gallant’s founder, Aaron Hirschhorn, previously sold DogVacay to its biggest rival in the dog-sitting marketplace, Rover. Hirschhorn passed away in 2021; Gallant is now led by Linda Black, who joined as its president and chief scientific officer from nearly the beginning. Gallant has now raised at least $44 million altogether from investors.
Earlier this week, San Diego startup Gallant announced $18 million in funding to bring the first FDA-approved ready-to-use stem cell therapy to veterinary medicine. If it passes regulatory muster, it could create a whole new way to treat our fur babies.
It’s still an experimental field, even though people have been researching stem cells for humans for decades. Seven-year-old Gallant’s first target is a painful mouth condition in cats called Feline Chronic Gingivostomatitis (FCGS), which Gallant says could receive FDA approval by early 2026.
The field has shown some encouraging early results. Studies on dogs with arthritis showed improvements in pain and mobility, with some benefits lasting up to two years. But when researchers tried similar treatments for kidney disease in cats — that’s another condition Gallant wants to tackle — the results were more mixed.
What makes Gallant’s approach different is convenience. Most stem cell treatments today require harvesting cells from the patient or donors with matching tissue, whereas Gallant’s therapy uses ready-to-use cells from donor animals, even if they are a different species.
Investors clearly see potential here. The funding round was led by existing backer Digitalis Ventures, with participation from NovaQuest Capital Management, which previously invested in the first FDA-approved human stem cell therapy.
The company has an interesting backstory. Gallant’s founder, Aaron Hirschhorn, previously sold DogVacay to its biggest rival in the dog-sitting marketplace, Rover. Hirschhorn passed away in 2021; Gallant is now led by Linda Black, who joined as its president and chief scientific officer from nearly the beginning. Gallant has now raised at least $44 million altogether from investors.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution
Copyright BlazeThemes. 2023
