European VCs join US$105m financing of US Mediar Thx
Mediar Therapeutics (Cambridge, MA, USA), a company developing a portfolio of first-in-class therapies to treat fibrosis, announces a US$105m financing including a US$85m Series A co-led by Novartis Venture Fund and Sofinnova Partners (France). The round is further joined by Pfizer Ventures, Mission BioCapital, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Ono Venture Investment, Mass General Brigham Ventures but also from more European VCs like by Gimv together with Pureos.
Fibrosis, triggered by inflammation or injury, results in an abnormal production of scar tissue that can lead to organ failure. Luckily, not all fibrosis leads to organ failure. Today, no cure for fibrosis exists and current therapies are suboptimal. Mediar Therapeutics was founded on pioneering fibrosis research from Harvard Medical School and Mass General Brigham & Womens Hospitals. Mediar works on a pipeline of unique factors influencing myofibroblasts, the key cell type driving fibrosis progression.
This Series A financing will allow Mediar Therapeutics to accelerate with the development of a portfolio of first-in-class antibody treatments with a unique potential to treat fibrosis at different stages of the disease. Two of the programs will advance into human studies by 2024. The US$85m of the Series A were complemented by Gimv together with Pfizer Ventures, Mission BioCapital, Pureos, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Ono Venture Investment and Mass General Brigham Ventures, adding more Europe to the Boston based company with The Netherlands (Gimv) and Switzerland (Pureos).
Andreas Jurgeit Ph.D., Partner Life Sciences at Gimv who has also joined the board of directors of Mediar Therapeutics comments: Mediar is a unique combination of science, talent and the opportunity to serve a significant unmet medical need. Fibrosis contributes to a significant percentage of deaths in the industrialized world, and today no cures or appropriate treatments exist. We are very pleased with Gimv joining a strong syndicate of leading global life sciences investors to back Mediar Therapeutics. We are looking forward to work closely together with the management, our industry partners and co-investors to realize Mediar Therapeutics mission.
We are applying a precision approach to our fibrosis programs to improve the odds of success in
human proof-of-concept studies and identify the right patients for each therapy, said Chief Executive Officer Rahul Ballal, Ph.D. The support of this broad syndicate of investors enables us to leverage our deep insights into fibrosis pathology and drive meaningful clinical impact in the treatment landscape”. Mediar brings deep research insights and a robust understanding of fibrotic disease, added Maina Bhaman, partner at Sofinnova Partners.
