Biopharma financings are pacing more than $300 million higher than at the end of April last year, but are well behind the total through April 2021 when the value of financings more than doubled any recent year due to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the end of April, biopharmas have raised $19.83 billion this year, compared to $17.5 billion through the same month in 2022, $53.7 billion in 2021, $24.04 billion in 2020 and $19.53 billion in 2019.
Sensydia Corp. reeled in $8 million in a financing round to advance its noninvasive Cardiac Performance System (CPS) platform, which uses heart sound analysis to enable earlier detection and better therapy guidance for patients suffering from heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. The funds will be used to finalize product development, acquire tooling, begin manufacturing and make submissions to the U.S. FDA.
In February, Viewray Inc. said it expected to post 25% to 40% revenue growth this year. By April, the company said delays in installations would cut growth to 0% to 15% and it announced it was pursuing strategic alternatives with Goldman Sachs. Less than a month later, on May 10, the company withdrew its guidance entirely citing “the current market conditions and ongoing strategic process.”
Diogenx SAS raised €27.5 million (US$30.4 million) in a series A round to move a novel therapy for type 1 diabetes into clinical development. The Marseille, France-based company is building on the research of co-founder Patrick Collombat, an expert in beta-cell regeneration, who is based at the Insitute of Biology Valrose and the University Côte d’Azur, in Nice. Its lead drug candidate comprises a recombinant R-spondin protein, which acts on the Wnt/beta-catenin signal pathway to boost replication of endogenous functioning beta-cells.
Beijing Luzhu Biotechnology Co. Ltd. raised a net HK$242 million (US$31 million) from an IPO in Hong Kong but shares in the developer of vaccines and therapeutics for infectious diseases, cancer and autoimmune diseases plummeted on the first day of trading. Luzhu’s shares (HK:2480) started trading on May 8 at HK$31.50 and fell about 30% throughout the day to close at HK$22. Founded in 2001, Luzhu has yet to turn a profit. It recorded net losses of ¥725.2 million (US$92 million) in 2022 and ¥539.4 million in 2021.
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