iPierian, a US-based biotechnology company which is developing antibody therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, has raised $30m, partly to provide series C financing to accelerate the clinical development of its IPN007 lead drug candidate, a monoclonal antibody targeting secreted Tau protein for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The funds will also be used to provide series A financing for launching a spin-out company, True North Therapeutics. The funding was co-led by SR One, the corporate venturing division of pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, together with venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and MPM Capital, with participation from all existing iPierian investors.
True North Therapeutics will focus on developing antibody therapies that target the Complement pathway of the immune system, to address mechanisms in diseases with high unmet needs, including rare diseases. True North will use the series A financing to advance its lead drug candidate TNT009 into clinical trials.
Nancy Stagliano will serve as chief executive officer (CEO) of both iPierian and True North Therapeutics. As part of the financing, Rajeev Dadoo from SR One will obtain a seat on the board of directors for both companies.
Previously, in September 2010, SR One and Biogen Idec’s New Ventures unit added $6m to iPierian’s series B round, which closed at $28m, having raised $22m in July 2010, when Google Ventures, the corporate venturing division of search engine company Google, led the initial closing.
Rajeev Dadoo, partner at SR One,said: “With the monoclonal antibody programs that have emerged from iPierian, we see promising opportunities to create value with novel medicines from two companies, each focused on areas of high unmet need – neurodegenerative and rare diseases – where there is strong support by the pharma industry and the medical community for innovative drug development.”
Jim Scopa, managing director at MPM Capital, said: “Given recent positive developments with promising drug candidates, we believe that creating two companies, iPierian and True North, opens up a wider range of possibilities for partnering discussions, allows each company to explore new indications and pipeline opportunities, and optimizes the value to shareholders and patients with the assets built through the scientific legacy of iPierian.”
Beth Seidenberg, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, said: “Under Nancy Stagliano’s leadership over the last two years, there has been remarkable progress in transforming the proprietary stem cell platform of iPierian into meaningful drug development programs to form the foundation for business plans in two exciting therapeutic areas.”
Nancy Stagliano, CEO of both iPierian and True North Therapeutics, said: “With such strong investor support, iPierian and True North are each poised to advance novel monoclonal antibody therapeutics into the clinic with IND filings in the next 12 to 18 months.”