HONG KONG – Splisense Ltd. has closed a $28.5 million series B financing that it said will support pipeline development including its lead antisense oligonucleotide candidate, SPL84-23, for the potential treatment of cystic fibrosis. The Jerusalem-based company, which develops mRNA-altering therapies for CF and other genetic pulmonary diseases, attracted support for the round from Orbimed, Israel Biotech Fund, Biotel Ltd. and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Flare Therapeutics Inc. emerged from stealth mode with $82 million in series A financing and an ambitious agenda to systematically drug transcription factors associated with cancer and other neurological, genetic and immunological conditions.

Business development among biopharmaceutical companies working on therapeutics for cancer indications has been brisk this year, with 32% of the 654 deals recorded to date by BioWorld involving cancer indications. However public companies in the area haven’t gained much investor enthusiasm, with the BioWorld Cancer index dropping over 18% year-to-date, with 6% of the loss in valuation taking place this month.

Biopharma startups seeking a mix of financial, strategic and operational support gained a new option May 12 with the announcement of Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund II from Perceptive Advisors LLC. The fund, expected to lead series A financings in the range of $20 million to $40 million closed with $515 million in capital commitments. It's led by portfolio manager and CEO Chris Garabedian, who also serves as chairman and CEO of Xontogeny LLC, a Boston-based accelerator.

Appia Bio Inc. raised $52 million in a series A funding round to bring forward a novel take on allogeneic cell therapy for cancer, based on a rare lymphocyte population, invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells, which exhibit aspects of both NK cell and T-cell biology.