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20 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JANUARY 27, 2025 FOCUS | HE ALTH CARE XingImaging's new U.S. home at 55 Church St., in New Haven. The former office building was converted into lab space and is now called the Elm City Bioscience Center. PHOTO | COSTAR China-based biotech opens New Haven research facility New Haven biotech raises $14.5M to expand PTSD treatment program A New Haven-based biotech company, Nema Health, announced a $14.5 million Series A funding round that will expand its online trauma therapy program to three new states: California, Florida and Pennsylvania. The investment, led by Deerfield Management and CVS Health Ventures, allows Nema to "expand its treatment across markets, broaden insurance coverage and continue deepening its care offerings," the company said. Nema's existing investors — Optum Ventures, .406 Ventures and Grey- Matter — also participated in the funding round. Nema says its virtual treatment program uses cognitive processing therapy to help trauma patients, including those with PTSD, recover. Nema, launched in 2023, now operates in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, California, Massachu- setts, Pennsylvania, Florida and Illinois. It plans to expand to more states this year, according to CEO and co-founder Dr. Sofia Noori. CT biotech secures $9M to advance oral treatment for inflammatory bowel disease Essex-based clinical-stage pharma- ceutical company Thetis Pharmaceuti- cals LLC said it has secured $9 million in funding from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. The company is developing an oral therapy for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and solid tumor cancers. Thetis said the funding, in the form of a loan, will help underwrite a Phase 1b trial of a drug known as TP-317 in ulcerative colitis patients to identify safe and efficient dosing. The Helmsley Charitable Trust has invested more than $14 million in support of the drug. According to Thetis, current treat- ment options for patients with IBD, such as Crohn's disease and ulcer- ative colitis, are insufficient, as few patients achieve lasting remission. Existing treatments for IBD often require a needle injection, which can suppress the immune system, leaving patients susceptible to infections and cancer, Thetis said. The company said its TP-317 drug is a naturally occurring lipid that helps reduce inflammation and repair intes- tinal lining without compromising the body's natural ability to fight infection. In April 2022, Thetis Pharmaceu- ticals secured $4.2 million from the Helmsley Charitable Trust, which it planned to use to advance the drug's potential for treating Crohn's disease. The Helmsley Charitable Trust is an offshoot of the Helmsley real estate empire, which began in New York City in the 1930s. By David Krechevsky davidk@hartfordbusiness.com M ore than two months after reaching a settlement with state health regulators, a China-based biotech company announced it's opening a new research facility in New Haven. XingImaging LLC, a subsidiary of China-based Mitro Biotech Co. Ltd., is a developer of biomarker imaging and will use 24,000 square feet on three floors at 55 Church St., in New Haven, for its laboratory, clinic and U.S. headquarters. The facility will include a clinic to recruit and evaluate clinical research study participants, radiochemistry laboratories, PET-CT/SPECT-CT scan- ners and image analysis capabilities. XingImaging applied to the state Office of Health Strategy (OHS) in June 2024 for regulatory approval to acquire its scanners, which combined cost nearly $6.8 million. Under the settlement reached with OHS on Oct. 30, XingImaging agreed to use its scanning equipment only for research purposes. The New Haven facility will offer a range of services, including clinical trial and advanced imaging services, imaging analysis and radiotracer manufacturing, the company said. Founded in 2012, Mitro Biotech said it was the first company in China to provide pre-clinical and clinical contract research services by applying molecular imaging technologies. Mitro and XingImaging merged in October 2023. Mitro and XingImaging CEO Gilles Tamagnan said the company opened its U.S. headquarters in New Haven because the city is a "hub for research and healthcare innovation." New coalition seeks CT legislation to force PBM transparency A coalition of independent phar- macists, patient advocacy and local business groups is seeking legis- lation that would force more trans- parency around pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Calling itself Patients Not PBMs Connecticut, the Hartford-based group said it will push for bills in the state legislature this session to require PBMs to "be more transparent, stop keeping rebates intended for patients, stop interfering with patient access to needed care and reimburse pharmacies and physicians fairly." Coalition members include the Connecticut Association of Commu- nity Pharmacies, PhRMA, BioCT, Advancing Connecticut Together, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, U.S. Pain Foundation, Connecticut Oncology Association, among others. PBMs are hired to manage prescrip- tion drug benefits for health insurers, Medicare Part D drug plans, large employers, and other payers. They negotiate with drug manufacturers and pharmacies to control the cost of medications. Three major PBMs — Express Scripts, CVS Caremark and OptumRx — make up 75% of the market, according to the coalition. "Pharmacy benefit managers were originally designed to help reduce prescription drug costs, but instead, they have become a barrier between patients and the care and savings they deserve," said Dawn Holcombe, executive director of the Connecticut Oncology Association. "Patients Not PBMs Connecticut is committed to demanding greater transparency and fairness from PBMs, ensuring that rebate dollars go where they belong — into the hands of patients without interfer- ence or needless delays." PBMs in recent years have come under greater state and federal scrutiny. A report published in mid-January by the Federal Trade Commission, for example, concluded that the three largest PBMs marked up the prices of numerous specialty generic drugs dispensed at their affiliated pharma- cies by thousands of percent, and many others by hundreds of percent. That generated $7.3 billion in revenue from 2017 to 2022, the FTC said. The 2025 legislative session kicked off Jan. 8, and runs through June 4.