Agomab Therapeutics NV raised $40.5 million in a series B extension led by Pfizer Inc., which has also come on board as an adviser on the development of AGMB-129, Agomab’s candidate therapy for fibrostenotic Crohn’s disease. The new cash raises the series B total to $114 million.
From 20 years of research on metabolic change as a result of salt intake, Karen Duggan discovered in 2003 that a naturally occurring molecule in the human body, native vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), was capable of reversing fibrosis caused by hypertension and other chronic diseases such as diabetes. From that discovery, Vectus Biosystems Ltd. was founded, and the company has developed a new class of mimetic drug candidates and a drug library based on VIP.
LONDON – Engitix Therapeutics Ltd. has raised $54 million in a series A round to advance early programs arising from its human extracellular matrix (ECM) target discovery platform towards the clinic with the support of new partner and equity investor Dompé Farmaceutici SpA.
Sonic Incytes Medical Corp. collected $7.3 million in a series A fundraising round to bring its liver-focused point-of-care ultrasound solution to commercialization. Nimbus Synergies led the round with participation from Nicola Wealth, Mint Venture Partners, Consortium Medteq, Wavemaker Three-Sixty Health, Gaingels, INP Capital and several angel investors. The round was oversubscribed by 150%. The hand-held Velacur system noninvasively quantifies liver volume, stiffness and attenuation, critical factors in diagnosing and monitoring liver disease in a process that takes about five minutes and can be performed in a physician’s office. The system received FDA clearance late last year.
In a recent study, a team of researchers at the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Research Institute have discovered that spiny mice can regenerate severely damaged internal organs that, in other mice, would lead to fatal organ failure.
Top-line data from a phase II trial of Italfarmaco SpA's givinostat in men with Becker muscular dystrophy found it failed to affect a significant change in total muscle fibrosis vs. placebo, the study's primary endpoint. But whether the outcome reflected a shortcoming of the drug or a function of the rare condition's clinical profile remained uncertain, with the company placing its bets on the latter.
Tvardi Therapeutics Inc., a company targeting a protein essential to cancer cells' survival and immune evasion, closed a $74 million series B financing. The round will help it advance candidates through multiple midstage trial readouts in cancer and fibrosis, the Houston-based company said.
LONDON – Alentis Therapeutics SA is now equipped to deliver initial proof of concept for its universal approach to treating fibrosis, after raising $67 million in an oversubscribed series B.
PERTH, Australia – Certa Therapeutics Pty Ltd. founder and CEO Darren Kelly knows a thing or two about launching biotech companies. He spun out Fibrotech Therapeutics in 2006 from the University of Melbourne, which was one of the Medical Research Commercialization Fund’s first investments.
DUBLIN – Agomab Therapeutics NV raised $74 million in a series B round that attracted two heavyweight U.S. crossover investors, Redmile Group, which led the financing, and Cormorant Asset Management.