Sigilon Therapeutics, a US-based developer of treatments for chronic illnesses, closed an $80.3m series B round on Tuesday featuring pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly.
The round included CPP Investments, otherwise known as Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, as well as investment fund Longevity Vision Fund, life sciences company builder and venture capital firm Flagship Pioneering, and funds managed by investment manager BlackRock.
Founded in 2015, Sigilon is working on immune-protected bio-engineered cells intended to form the basis for drugs that will treat chronic diseases without them being rejected by the patient’s immune system.
The company’s lead drug candidate, an encapsulated cell therapy dubbed SIG-001, has secured Orphan Drug Designation from US regulators and is expected to begin clinical trials for haemophilia in the first half of this year.
Rogerio Vivaldi, Sigilon’s president and CEO, said: “We believe encapsulating engineered human cells in our proprietary matrix will enable us to deliver controlled doses of therapeutic proteins without the need for immunosuppression and without the risks associated with modifying patients’ genomes.
“We are pleased to welcome an exceptional group of investors who share our vision of offering more hope and less fear to patients and their caregivers as we enter the clinic with our lead program and continue to advance our other programs toward the clinic.”
The company said the series B round boosted its overall funding to more than $195m. Its founding investor, Flagship Pioneering, provided $23.5m in 2017, and Eli Lilly supplied an undisclosed amount of equity financing in connection with a 2018 collaboration deal that included a $63m upfront payment.
