San Diego-based Autobahn Therapeutics Inc.’s $76 million series B round will let the firm advance lead candidate ABX-002, a thyroid hormone receptor beta agonist therapy for multiple sclerosis and adrenomyeloneuropathy, a rare genetic disorder, plus a portfolio of central nervous system programs that leverage the company’s brain-targeting chemistry platform.

Tel Aviv-based Alpha Tau Medical Ltd. raised $26 million in a series B financing. The round was led by previous investors, Savit Capital, Medison Ventures, and Ourcrowd, as well as new private and family office investors hailing from North America and Israel. The new funds will be used to continue trials of the company's Alpha DaRT (Diffusing Alpha Radiation Emitters Therapy) alpha-radiation cancer therapy for solid tumors and expand manufacturing facilities.

Athira Pharma Inc. closed on an $85 million series B financing designed to advance its small molecule, NDX-1017, into a phase II/III trial for treating Alzheimer’s disease later this year. The company is using positive data generated last year from its phase Ia/b trial in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease as a springboard to the clinic.

LONDON – With results of its first phase I trial imminent, inflammasome specialist Nodthera Ltd. has raised $55 million in a series B round, providing funding for phase II proof-of-concept studies and to advance a second, brain-penetrant, compound to the clinic.

The $65 million that Hotspot Therapeutics Inc., of Boston, raised will help advance its lead programs to the clinic, including protein kinase C antagonists for Th2 and T-reg-driven autoimmune disease and S6 kinase antagonists for rare metabolic disease.

Due to launch in the second half of this year, Rallybio Inc.’s phase I/II study testing RLYB-211 for prevention of fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FNAIT) will begin with experiments in men, said Steve Uden, one of the company’s three founders. “The good news is, we can confirm the safety and the pharmacology of this concept in male volunteers before having to start a clinical trial in pregnant mothers,” he told BioWorld.

Saratoga, Calif.-based startup Mojo Vision Inc. has raised $51 million in a series B-1 financing led by existing investor New Enterprise Associates (NEA). The money will be used to advance development of the Mojo Lens, the company’s first-of-a-kind smart contact lens powered by augmented reality (AR) technology.

Temporary cardiac pacing is often required for hospitalized cardiac patients, particularly for increasingly common transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures. Startup Atacor Medical Inc. has raised a $25 million series B round to back its development of a novel extracardiac temporary pacing system. Intriguingly led by an undisclosed corporate partner, the financing is slated to get the company through a U.S. and European pivotal trial, as well as regulatory review in those regions. The San Clemente, Calif.-based startup also aims to continue developing interim and permanent iterations of its system.