29 March 2019 - - US-based pharmaceutical company KalVista Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: KALV) has promoted Ben Palleiko to chief business officer in addition to his current role as chief financial officer, effective immediately, the company said.

Palleiko joined KalVista as chief financial officer in 2016. He has over 20 years of experience in the industry, as both a senior life sciences investment banker and chief financial officer of several public and private life sciences companies.

He has raised more than USD 2bn in capital and completed over 50 financing and strategic transactions in his career.

Palleiko holds an MBA in Finance and a MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago, and a BA in Quantitative Economics from Tufts University. Prior to graduate school, he served in the US Navy as a Naval Aviator flying carrier-based jet aircraft.

KalVista Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of small molecule protease inhibitors for diseases with significant unmet need.

The initial focus is on inhibitors of plasma kallikrein, which is an important component of the body's inflammatory response and which, in excess, can lead to increased vascular permeability, edema and inflammation.

KalVista has developed a proprietary portfolio of novel, small molecule plasma kallikrein inhibitors initially targeting hereditary angioedema and diabetic macular edema.

The company has created a structurally diverse portfolio of oral plasma kallikrein inhibitors and is advancing multiple drug candidates for HAE as well as DME.

The company has selected KVD900 as its programme to be advanced as an on-demand therapy for HAE attacks and commenced a Phase 2 proof-of-concept study in HAE patients in late 2018. In DME, KalVista's most advanced program, an intravitreally administered plasma kallikrein inhibitor known as KVD001, is enrolling a Phase 2 clinical trial that is anticipated to complete in the second half of 2019.