Novo Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of pharmaceutical firm Novo, led a $55m series B round for NodThera, a UK-based developer of therapeutics for inflammation-related diseases.
The round included Sanofi Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of pharmaceutical company Sanofi, and F-Prime Capital, a subsidiary of financial services and investment group Fidelity, as well as Cowen Healthcare Investments, 5AM Ventures, Sofinnova Partners and Epidarex Capital.
Spun off from drug discovery services provider Selvita in 2016, NodThera is developing treatments for diseases caused by chronic inflammation. It is specifically working on inflammasome inhibitors to prevent inflammatory responses from the immune system.
The series B proceeds will allow the company to advance its existing pipeline, including the progression of its lead asset, NT-0167, which is aimed at inflammation underlying a range of diseases through clinical studies.
Novo Ventures partner Nanna Lüneborg will join NodThera’s board of directors in connection with the round, as will Kevin Raidy, managing partner at Cowen, and F-Prime Capital partner Alex Pasteur.
NodThera had raised $37m in a mid-2018 series A round co-led by Sofinnova Partners and 5AM Ventures, with participation from F-Prime Capital and Epidarex Capital, the latter having provided an undisclosed amount of seed funding for the company in 2016.
