Bionyra launches with $165m, France’s largest biotech Series A

The oversubscribed Series A of $165 million (~€143 million) was co-led by two strong VCs in the European biotech space, Sofinnova Partners (which, less than a year ago, also co-founded the company) and Jeito Capital. Other participants in the funding are Arkin Bio, Sanofi Ventures, Sixty Degree Capital, Vives Partners, and Apollo Health Ventures.

From global pharma to emerging biotech

Bionyra’s CEO is also one of its co-founders, Frédéric Marrache, an experienced pharma executive and former Sanofi R&D VP. Prior to co-founding Bionyra, he led a portfolio of early- to mid-stage drug development programs focused on immune-mediated diseases at the French biopharma giant. When asked about the switch to a small, new biotech, he said in an email to European Biotechnology Magazine (EBM), “I saw opportunities where my specific experience could accelerate the development of solutions needed for the patients.”

Marrache explained that despite major progress, a meaningful unmet medical need for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases remains, and patients cannot wait decades for better therapies. “I co-founded Bionyra with Sofinnova Partners to address that simple but pressing reality,” he added.

A differentiated pipeline with half-life extension technology

Bionyra aims to address those unmet needs, starting with three antibody assets, two of which are already in phase 1 trials for IBD: BYN-002, an anti-TL1A monoclonal antibody that the company believes could offer differentiated efficacy; and BYN-003, an anti-TL1A and -IL-23p19 bispecific antibody with potential first- and best-in-class status, according to the company. “We believe our bispecific BYN-003 is leading the field, building on BYN-002 validation and established strong potency,” said Marrache. “In the mid to long term, we will consider indication expansion outside of the IBD space for both BYN-002 and BYN-003.” Bionyra licensed both BYN-002 and BYN-003 from Chinese TrueLab Biopharmaceutical and holds exclusive global rights outside of Greater China.

The third asset, in IND stage, is BYN-001, an anti-IL-25 monoclonal antibody for atopic dermatitis and Type 2 inflammation, licensed from U.S.-based NovaRock Biotherapeutics. Today’s press release states that the company “is progressing additional innovative preclinical assets, including some from TrueLab.” After a worldwide search for antibody strategies to address key challenges in inflammation, “we hand-picked assets we felt had offered the best potential to deliver first and best-in-class therapies, faster,” said Marrache.

Bionyra claims that its three assets have a longer half-life than those of other antibodies. According to Marrache, currently available therapies for atopic dermatitis and IBD fall short, delivering suboptimal response rates and unpredictable therapeutic outcomes. “More than half of patients remain inadequately controlled, underscoring a substantial gap in effective treatment,” he told EBM. With optimized antibody potency and half-life extension technology, Bionyra potentially enhances treatment duration and efficacy while minimizing dosing frequency. “So patients can ‘get it and forget it’,” added Marrache.

A quick fundraising trajectory

Despite seeing a general acceleration of the life science space across the world, from Bionyra creation in August 2025 to Series A in less than a year, it sounds like an unusually strong fundraising trajectory in biotech, especially in Europe. “We set out from the get-go to establish speed and excellence in execution at the heart of the project,” said Marrache. He explained that Sofinnova provided its experience in company creation and global outreach, and that with Jeito joining as co-leader of the Series A, they had “all the ingredients to quickly close the round.”

Anta Gkelou, partner at Sofinnova Partners explained in an email to EBM that in funding Bionyra, they aimed to combine scientific depth in immunology, clinical discipline, and clarity of purpose to reimagine therapies for those in need. “We saw an opportunity to build a pipeline focused on very specific unmet needs and scientific questions,” said Gkelou. “We identified the best programs worldwide, with the plan to accelerate their development with speed, focus, and discipline”

Bionyra’s CEO said: “We have in-depth insights in clinical and translational immunology and have built a team to execute at speed.” And Gkelou added that there were two critical factors giving Sofinnova Partners the confidence to back Bionyra: “the science in immunology and inflammation and the right people to bring candidates into the hands of patients. Frédéric’s expertise is not only in the field of immune-mediated disease and what he saw patients needed as a physician, but also his experience in clinical development, business strategy, and operations.”

Next wave of immunology innovation

“The company will be delivering clinical data across all current programs in 2027 and 2028, of which two will be measuring efficacy in patients,” said Gkelou. Bionyra is entering a competitive IBD landscape shaped by the emerging TL1A class, where Sanofi and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (with duvakitug) and Merck (with tulisokibart) are both advancing through Phase 3, with AbbVie also entering the space at an earlier stage with FG-M701.

In atopic dermatitis, the market remains anchored by Sanofi and Regeneron Pharma’s blockbuster Dupixent, although the anti-IL-25 space stays largely undeveloped, with no established competitive clinical pipeline. Despite the crowded spaces, “we are aiming for superior pharmacology and efficacy with our programs and have designed our plans to reach these milestones within this round of financing,” commented Gkelou. “Bionyra’s pipeline is designed to deliver,” she said.

Gkelou explained that Sofinnova Partners’ ambition is to build a highly differentiated pipeline with the strongest emerging trends in the field, now in the hands of European entrepreneurs with the right clinical development expertise. “We believe there are no borders in innovation in drug development, and Europe provides the perfect framework for such pipeline builds,” said Gkelou.