US-based kidney disease medication developer Goldfinch Bio, a closed an oversubscribed $100m series B round yesterday led by investment adviser Eventide Asset Management and backed by biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences.
Wellington Management Company, Ally Bridge Group, Casdin Capital, Irving Investors, Yonjin Capital and Schroeder Adveq took part in the round, along with funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, and undisclosed additional institutional investors.
Goldfinch is working on kidney disease treatments intended to avoid the toxicity and non-specificity prevalent with existing drugs.
The company has two active programs: GFP-887, which is aimed at kidney diseases associated with proteinuria and progressive renal dysfunction, and GFB-024, indicated for rare and metabolic kidney diseases.
The series B proceeds will fund up to three clinical studies on each candidate, including a phase 2 trial of GFP-887 intended to begin shortly. Joy Ghosh, senior research analyst at Eventide Asset Management, will join Goldfinch’s board of directors.
Incubator Third Rock Ventures launched Goldfinch Bio in 2016 with $55m in series A funding, before Gilead Sciences invested $5m in May 2019 through a strategic partnership deal.
Goldfinch’s president and CEO, Anthony Johnson, said: “We are grateful for the support of new and existing investors, which reflects both the urgent need to revolutionise the treatment of kidney diseases and the quality of the Goldfinch product engine and development pipeline.
“The proceeds from this financing will allow us to advance both GFB-887 and GFB-024 through clinical proof-of-concept in multiple underserved patient populations, with the additional goal of validating our precision medicine approach to treating kidney diseases.”
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.