US-based biopharmaceutical company Spero Therapeutics raised $30m today in a series A round led by Lundbeckfond Ventures, the corporate venturing unit for pharmaceutical firm Lundbeck.
MRL Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Merck, also took part in the round alongside SR One, the early-stage investment arm of pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, as well as investment holding firm The Kraft Group, Atlas Venture and Partners Innovation Fund.
Spero is developing treatments for bacterial infections based around its Potentiator programme, a collection of molecules designed to be used in combination with existing anti-infectives.
The funding will be used to advance the Potentiator programme into clinical development by the end of 2016, to advance an anti-virulence programme in which Spero is partnering with pharmaceutical firm Roche, and to develop further bacterial infection treatments.
Casper Breum, partner at Lundbeckfond Ventures, and Josh Resnick, president of MRL Ventures, will join Spero’s board in conjunction with the round.
Breum said: “In a very short period of time, Spero has made significant progress with their strategy to leverage dramatic changes in the field of anti-infectives and create novel therapies to combat severe infections.
“We are thrilled to be working with a company that has the potential to fill such an important unmet medical need.”
Spero previously received $3m in seed funding from SR One, Atlas Venture and Partners Innovation Fund in April 2014.