Biotech financings in the past week included startups taking new approaches to autoimmune disease, cancer, and tissue regeneration. It was also a week of follow-on financings. At least three companies expanded their Series A rounds with the addition of new investors. Here’s a look back at recent financing activity.
—Human Immunology Biosciences revealed $120 million in financing to support the development of its pipeline of autoimmune disease drugs. The South San Francisco-based biotech’s therapies treat disease by targeting the cells at the root of autoimmune disorders. Its lead program, licensed from MorphoSys, is in development for two immune-mediated kidney disorders.
—Neuroscience biotech Lusaris Therapeutics launched with $60 million to advance to the clinic with its lead program, a psychedelic drug for depression. The lead program of Lusaris is a pill designed to be placed under the tongue, where it quickly dissolves and is rapidly absorbed by the body. Venture capital firm RA Capital Management, which incubated Lusaris, also led the startup’s Series A round.
—Microbiome products company Concerto Biosciences raised $23 million. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based startup says its proprietary technology, called kChip, measures millions of microbial interactions to reveal combinations of microbes that work in concert to bring microbial communities back to health. Lead program ENS-002 is designed to rehabilitate the skin microbiome. Safar Partners led the Series A round, joined by Horizon Ventures and M Ventures, the venture capital arm of Merck KGaA.
—Less than a year after debuting with $64 million in financing, Alterome Therapeutics tacked another $35 million to its Series A financing. San Diego-based Alterome will apply the capital toward its pipeline of three precision oncology programs designed with its computational chemistry platform. Colt Ventures and OrbiMed co-led Alterome’s latest investment, which the company describes as a Series A2 financing.
—Genetic medicines developer hC Bioscience added $16 million to its Series A financing, bringing the round to $40 million total. Cambridge-based hC Bio is developing transfer RNA-based therapies that address protein dysfunction in genetically defined diseases, including cancer. The company aims to restore protein function in diseases caused by nonsense mutations or premature termination codons.
—Tissue regeneration biotech Novadip Biosciences raised €40 million. The cash will go toward two clinical-stage programs: an allogeneic bone union therapeutic called NVD-X3 and NVD-003, an autologous bone engraftment product. The cash breaks down to €24 million in equity financing and €16 million in non-dilutive financing.
—Emalex Biosciences raised $250 million for a Phase 3 clinical trial of its experimental treatment for Tourette syndrome. The Chicago company’s small molecule, ecopipam, addresses a different target than many of the drugs currently available to treat the muscle and vocal tics caused by Tourette. Emalex’s Series D round of funding was led by Bain Capital Life Sciences.
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