Nimbus Therapeutics, the US-based small molecule drug developer backed by life sciences software provider Schrödinger and pharmaceutical firms Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly, completed a $60m financing round yesterday.
Investment management firm RA Capital Management and investment partnership BVF Partners provided the capital, which took the company’s total funding to more than $195m.
Founded in 2009, Nimbus has built a drug discovery platform that is used to create small molecule compounds designed to target proteins that drive pathology in certain diseases.
The capital will support the progress of the company’s allosteric tyrosine kinase 2 inhibitor into phase 2 clinical trials in early 2021 alongside the advancement of a haematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 inhibitor into clinical testing.
Nimbus CEO Jeb Keiper said: “Today’s financing evidences the remarkable success of our structure-based drug discovery approach and the exciting data our pipeline has generated.
“This financing also defines a pathway for our future, and while we could not welcome all the investors with interest in Nimbus into this round, we expect with continued success to build on this financing by bringing on additional new investment in 2021.”
The company raised $3.5m in a 2010 seed round according to a securities filing, the round having reportedly been led by entrepreneur Bill Gates.
GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly co-led a $24m series A round for Nimbus the following year through corporate venturing vehicles SR One and Lilly Ventures, investing together with Gates and venture capital firm Atlas Venture.
Nimbus completed a $43m series B round co-led by Pfizer subsidiary Pfizer Venture Investments and VC firm Lightstone Ventures in 2014, with contributions from all the series A participants.
Schrödinger subsequently joined Pfizer Venture Investments, SR One, Lilly Ventures, Atlas Venture, Lightstone Ventures and Bill Gates to provide $65m for the company in mid-2018.
Image courtesy of Nimbus Therapeutics.
