- Financing led by Forbion, with Longitude Capital and founding investors, Novartis Venture Fund and Fountain Healthcare Partners, also participating
- Funding to advance clinical trials of Inflazome’s pioneering orally-available NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor compounds in several inflammatory diseases
- NLRP3 is associated with harmful inflammation in a broad range of serious medical conditions including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, inflammatory bowel disease, gout, osteoarthritis, liver, kidney and cardiovascular diseases
Dublin, Ireland and Cambridge, U.K. | 19 November 2018:Inflazome, a pioneering inflammasome company developing small molecule drugs that block harmful inflammation, today announces the successful completion of a Series B financing round of €40 million ($46 million). The financing round was led by Forbion, with Longitude Capital and founding investors, Novartis Venture Fund and Fountain Healthcare Partners, also participating.
Clinical and scientific data indicates that the NLRP3 inflammasome, a compelling biological target that regulates our innate immune response, is overactive in a broad range of serious medical conditions driven by harmful inflammation. These include neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s as well as inflammatory bowel disease, gout, osteoarthritis, liver, kidney and cardiovascular diseases; conditions often inadequately treated by current therapies.
Inflazome is developing potent and selective small-molecule inhibitors of the NLRP3 inflammasome, to stop the cycle of chronic inflammation that drives such diseases. The Series B proceeds will be used to advance the Company’s first-in-class NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors into multiple clinical trials in 2019, with next-generation compounds following thereafter.
Following the completion of the financing round, Dr Marco Boorsma, a General Partner at Forbion, and Dr David Hirsch, a Managing Director and Founder of Longitude Capital, have joined Inflazome’s Board of Directors.
Dr Matt Cooper, Co-Founder and CEO of Inflazome, commented: “We are very pleased to have secured a partnership with leading EU and US investors Forbion and Longitude and additional support from our founding investors, Novartis Venture Fund and Fountain Healthcare Partners. Forbion and Longitude have excellent track records of working closely with biotechs to drive R&D programs to successful clinical outcomes.”
Dr Marco Boorsma, General Partner at Forbion Capital Partners, commented: “Recognizing the important role of the inflammasome in many major diseases, we intensively screened the universe of companies active in this space. We decided to back Inflazome because of their leading position, deep understanding of inflammasome biology, foundational IP position and advanced and diversified pipeline of NLRP3 modulators. We were also highly impressed with the experience and knowledge of the Company’s Management Team and Board.”
Dr David Hirsch, Managing Director and Founder of Longitude Capital, added: “We’re excited by the potential of NLRP3 inhibitors and look forward to generating robust human proof of concept data with this financing.”
Inflazome Chairman, Dr Manus Rogan and Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Fountain Healthcare Partners, commented: “Due to the breadth of therapeutic applications, the market potential for a successful small molecule inhibitor of NLRP3 is clearly very significant. It has been exciting to have been involved in the Inflazome story since its inception and to follow our investment in one of the largest European venture capital backed financing rounds in the biotech sector this year.”
About Inflazome
Utilizing the scientific expertise of our founders and advisors, Inflazome is leading the way in developing rally available drugs to address clinical unmet needs in inflammatory diseases by targeting the NLRP3 inflammasome, which is now understood to drive many chronic inflammatory conditions. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Inflazome was founded in 2016 by leading academics Prof. Matt Cooper, The University of Queensland (Australia) and Professor Luke O’Neill, Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), following a highly productive joint collaboration. For more information, please visit: inflazome.com
About Forbion
Forbion is a dedicated life sciences venture capital firm with offices in The Netherlands and Germany. Forbion invests in life sciences companies that are active in the (bio-) pharmaceutical space. Forbion’s investment team has built an impressive performance track record since the late nineties with successful investments in over 50 companies. Forbion manages well over EUR 1 billion across ten funds. Forbion is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. Besides financial objectives, Forbion selects investments that will positively affect health and well-being of patients. Its investors include the EIF, through its European Recovery Programme (ERP), LfA, Dutch Venture Initiative (DVI) facilities and AMUF facilities and the KFW through the ERP – Venture Capital Fondsfinanzierung facility. Forbion operates a joint venture with BGV, the manager of seed and early stage funds focused on Benelux and Germany. For more information, please visit: www.forbion.com
About Longitude Capital
Longitude Capital is a private investment firm that makes venture growth investments in biotechnology and medical technology companies that seek to improve clinical outcomes, enhance quality of life and/or reduce system costs. Longitude Capital invests in both privately held and publicly traded life science companies through a variety of investment approaches. Since 2006, Longitude Capital has raised over $1.2 billion across three funds and has offices in Menlo Park, CA and Greenwich, CT. For more information, please visit www.longitudecapital.com
About Fountain Healthcare Partners
Fountain Healthcare Partners is a life science focused venture capital fund with €176 million ($200 million) under management. Within the life science sector, specific areas of interest to Fountain include specialty pharma, medical devices, biotechnology and diagnostics. The firm deploys the majority of its capital in Europe, with the balance in the United States. Fountain’s main office is in Dublin, Ireland, with a second office in New York. www.fh-partners.com
About Novartis Venture Fund
Novartis Venture Fund is a corporate life science venture fund whose purpose is to foster innovation, drive significant patient benefit and generate superior returns by creating and investing in innovative life science companies at various stages of their development. For more information, go to www.nvfund.com
Contacts
Inflazome
Dr Jeremy Skillington | VP Business Development
E: j.skillington@inflazome.com
T: +353 1 687 5003
Media
FTI Consulting
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