Check out which firms are up and coming in biotech and pharma. [© Carlo Toffolo - Fotolia.com]
#13. Otonomy
Amount: $45.9 million
Type: Series C venture financing
Date announced: September 4
Purpose: Fund late-stage clinical trials for OTO-201 and OTO-104, development work to advance a third program to clinical trials and general corporate purposes. OTO-201 is an antibiotic that has recently completed a Phase Ib clinical trial in pediatric patients with middle ear effusion at the time of tympanostomy tube placement surgery. OTO-104 is a steroid that has completed a Phase Ib clinical trial in Meniere's disease patients
Financing leader: OrbiMed Advisors (existing investor)
Additional financing participants: Aperture Venture Partners and Osage University Partners (both new investors); Avalon Ventures, Domain Associates, Novo Ventures, RiverVest Venture Partners, and TPG Biotech (existing investors)
#12. Jounce Therapeutics
Amount: $47 million
Type: Series A venture financing
Date announced: February 14
Purpose: Build roster of products and rapidly advance lead programs to the clinic
Financing leader: Third Rock Ventures
Additional financing participants: None disclosed
#11. Newbridge Pharmaceuticals
Amount: $48 million
Type: Series C venture financing
Date announced: May 29
Purpose: Expand its commercial and manufacturing operations in the Africa, Middle East, and Turkey territories
Financing leader: Elan ($40 million investment)
Additional financing participants: Not specified in announcement; company’s existing investors include Burrill & Co. and the Kuwait Investment Authority’s Kuwait Life Sciences Co.
#10. NGM Biopharmaceuticals
Amount: $50 million6
Type: Series C venture financing
Date announced: July 18
Purpose: Support advancing its portfolio of potential therapeutics for the treatment of diabetes, obesity and other cardiometabolic diseases
Financing leader: No leader denoted
Additional financing participants: New investors that included Topspin Fund, and an investment group comprised of James Simons, Leo A. Guthart, Andy Gyenes, and Steven Winick; existing investors that included the Column Group, Prospect Venture Partners, Rho Ventures, and Tichenor Ventures
#9. Auris Medical
Amount: $52.2 million (CHF 47.1 million)4
Type: Series C venture financing
Date announced: April 16
Purpose: Advance two clinical-stage drug candidates, AM-101 for the treatment of acute tinnitus and AM-111 for the treatment of acute inner ear hearing loss, through Phase III studies and ultimately to market launch.
Financing leader: No leader denoted
Financing participants: Sofinnova Ventures and Sofinnova Partners
#8. Natera
Amount: $54.6 million
Type: Series E venture financing
Date announced: May 1
Purposes: Support the expansion and continued global rollout of Natera's noninvasive prenatal test, Panorama™; support the expansion of the company’s lab and workforce to meet “rapidly” increasing demand
Financing leaders: OrbiMed Advisors and Harmony Partners, both new lead investors
Additional financing participants: All existing investors including Claremont Creek Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Founders Fund, and Sequoia Capital, “as well as other undisclosed new investors”
#7. Symphogen
Amount: $55.7 million (€41 million)4
Type: Series E private equity round expansion7
Date announced: May 2
Purpose: Advance and expand oncology product pipeline of antibody mixture products addressing multiple targets in a single drug product
Financing leaders: Novo A/S and PKA (investments each of €20 million [$27.2 million])4
Additional financing participants: None
#6. aTyr Pharma
Amount: $59 million
Types: Series D financing, consisting of venture funding ($49 million) and venture debt ($10 million)8
Date announced: July 29
Purpose: Support clinical development of aTyr's first therapeutic program to treat rare autoimmune diseases, and build a rare disease pipeline in immune disorders.
Financing leader, venture financing: Undisclosed “premier, global public investment fund”
Additional venture financing participants: Alta Partners, Cardinal Partners, Domain Associates, and Polaris Partners (all existing investors)
#4. (tie) Trevena
Amount: $60 million
Type: Series C venture financing
Date announced: May 9
Purpose: Support planned Phase IIb clinical trial of acute heart failure candidate TRV027, the subject of a related development collaboration with Forest Laboratories9
Financing leader: Forest Laboratories ($30 million investment)10
Additional financing participants: Alta Partners, HealthCare Ventures, NEA, Polaris, and Yasuda Enterprise Development Company, all existing investors
#4. (tie) Dicerna Pharmaceuticals
Amount: $60 million
Type: Series C venture financing
Date announced: August 1
Purpose: Advance two or more programs into the clinic and progress other preclinical programs. The company also plans to use the proceeds to continue to develop drug delivery systems, which combine Dicerna’s DsiRNA molecules with targeting moieties allowing for direct delivery into specific cells of interest
Financing leader: RA Capital (new investor)
Additional financing participants: Brookside Capital, Deerfield, and Omega Funds (all new investors); and all five of Dicerna’s existing institutional investors: Abingworth, Domain Associates, Oxford Bioscience Partners, Skyline Ventures, and SR One
#3. Coherus BioSciences
Amount: $74.3 million
Types: Round of equity and securities ($46.3 million)11; offering of debt, rights and securities ($28 million)12, according to separate Form D Notices of Exempt Offering of Securities, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Dates announced: January 14 (round of equity and securities); July 23 (offering of debt, rights, and securities)
Purpose: Not disclosed
Financing leader: Not disclosed
Additional financing participants: Not disclosed
#2. Revance Therapeutics
Amount: $104 million
Type: Series E venture financing ($33 million) and conversion of convertible debt into Series E preferred stock ($71 million)
Date announced: April 2
Purpose: Support U.S. Phase III trials for RT001 Botulinum Toxin Type A Topical Gel, for the topical delivery of botulinum toxin type A to reduce the severity of crow’s feet wrinkles. RT001 is also currently in Phase II trials for the topical treatment of hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating), and chronic migraine headache. Funding will also support other neuromodulation clinical studies
Financing leader: No leader denoted
Financing participants: Essex Woodlands, NovaQuest Pharma Opportunities Fund, Delphi Ventures, Vivo Ventures, Technology Partners, Shepherd Ventures, Bio*One Capital and Pac-Link Ventures, Palo Alto Fund, “and other leading institutional investors.”
#1. Precision for Medicine
Amount: $150 million
Type: Private equity financing
Date announced: April 2
Purpose: Support acquisitions of expertise and infrastructure, and support development of capabilities designed to deliver lower development costs, speed time to market, and improve success rates of drug candidates. Company provides services and infrastructure to support life science companies as they develop new products
Financing leader: None disclosed
Financing participants: Oak Investment Partners, J.H. Whitney and Co., and Precision co-founders Ethan D. Leder and Mark P. Clein
Sources for the information listed above included company press releases and company regulatory filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Those sources were used to confirm listings of equity financings compiled by two sources that compile data on biopharma financing, Burrill & Co., and the quarterly MoneyTree Report produced by PwC and National Venture Capital Association based on data from Thomson Reuters.
Notes:
1 A total of 10,430,034 shares of common stock were sold at a price of $3.116 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $32.5 million. Warrants to purchase 0.28 shares of common stock were issued for each share of common stock purchased.
2 Final closing of a total $39.3 million in financing, including $6.8 million in shares of common stock previously sold to accredited investors by National Securities, exclusive of $5.0 million invested by current stockholders of the Company, as the company reported in its Form 10-K report for the year ended December 31, 2012. An additional 1,923,599 shares of common stock and corresponding warrants were issued at the final closing to certain existing stockholders of the company who participated in earlier closings of this financing.
3 The company has raised a total $69,081,610, according to the Form D. See www.secinfo.com/d17F95.xe.f.htm
4 Converted to U.S. dollars via www.xe.com on October 2.
5 Equity financing in connection with uniQure also receiving €17 million ($23.1 million) in collaboration financing from Chiesi Farmaceutici toward Glybera commercialization.
6 NGM disclosed that with the Series C financing, the company has raised over $130 million since the company’s founding in 2008.
7 Expansion of initial €100 million ($135.8 million) Series E equity round announced in 2011: http://www.symphogen.com/web/guest/newsarchive/readmore?p_p_id=56_INSTANCE_ZUuU&articleId=196456
8 The company also disclosed that in conjunction with the venture financing, it closed on a separate $10 million venture debt loan from Silicon Valley Bank, with the same purpose as the venture financing.
9 The companies have also entered into a collaborative licensing option agreement for development of TRV027, an AT1R biased-ligand that completed Phase IIa clinical trials. Trevena said in May it expects to begin a 500-patient multi-center Phase IIb clinical trial in acute decompensated heart failure by year’s end. The companies agreed to oversee the development of TRV027 by forming a joint development committee, though Trevena will retain operational authority.
10 Following completion of the Phase IIb study, Trevena has agreed to grant Forest Labs an option to exclusively license TRV027 worldwide. If Forest Labs exercises that option, Forest will pay Trevena up to $430 million tied to undisclosed development and commercial milestones, plus royalties. Forest Labs will also have responsibility for further development and commercialization of TRV027.
11 Part of $61.5 million round of equity and securities. See the Form D: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1512762/000151276213000002/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml
12 Part of a $40 million offering of debt, rights, and securities. See the Form D: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1512762/000151276213000003/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml