Opsona wins financing for clinical and operational expansion
Opsona Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on therapeutic and preventative approaches to autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, has completed Euro 18m (US$23m) Series B of financing which will enable it to expand both at an operational and clinical level.
Opsona Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on therapeutic and preventative approaches to autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, has completed €18m (US$23m) Series B of financing which will enable it to expand both at an operational and clinical level.
The company is also opening a new facility in Switzerland, which will carry out assay development and biochemical work for new projects and therapeutics recently acquired by Opsona to expand its pipeline of immunomodulators.
The new funding will support Opsona‘s clinical trials targeting inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and transplantation.
Novartis Venture Fund, Fountain Healthcare Partners, Inventages Venture Capital and Seroba Kernel Life Sciences all participated in the funding.
Dr Mark Heffernan, ceo of Opsona, said: ‘Completion of this financing represents a significant milestone in the transition of Opsona into a product-focused company, delivering key clinical development milestones.‘
The company is developing biopharmaceutical and small molecule products, which modulate the innate immune system, the key trigger in the inflammation cascade in many autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Opsona’s main product, a fully humanised monoclonal antibody (OPN-305) to a key toll-like receptor (TLR) target, has demonstrated efficacy in a number of animal models and will start clinical trials next year.
The company said the expertise it intends to grow in Switzerland would complement the existing team and activity in Dublin.