US-based antibody therapeutics developer Visterra secured $23.6m yesterday to close a series C round backed by pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co at $46.7m.
The company raised an initial $23.1m in June 2016 from Merck’s investment vehicle MRL Ventures Fund as well as Vertex Ventures, the venture capital arm of Singapore state-owned investment firm Temasek, Polaris Partners, Flagship Ventures and unnamed investors.
The full list of series C backers compiled by Visterra also includes immunobiological drugs manufacturer Serum Institute of India and Alexandria Venture Investments, the investment arm of life science real estate developer Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
Philanthropic organisation Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, investment firms Allegheny Financial Group and Omega Funds, and VC firms Cycad Group and CTI Life Sciences were also identified as participants in the round.
Founded in 2007, Visterra has developed an antibody-based drugs platform called Hierotope that will target viruses, bacteria and fungi that have proven difficult to tackle with conventional approaches due to their large number of different strains with frequent mutations.
The money will support a phase 2a and a phase 2b clinical trial for Visterra’s first lead candidate, VIS410, which targets influenza A, the virus responsible for large flu epidemics, in early 2018.
Visterra will also use the series C funding to initiate phase 1 clinical trials for its second lead candidate, VIS649, a treatment for a type of kidney inflammation known as IgA nephropathy, or Berger disease. The company also hopes to drive further development of Hierotope.
The series C round follows Visterra filing for a $69m initial public offering in January 2016. It set terms for the offering the following year, before withdrawing the plans in February 2017 citing unfavourable market conditions.
Visterra had previously secured approximately $100m in equity and debt financing. Merck co-led its $30m series B round in 2014 with Temasek and Vertex, while Alexandria, Polaris, Flagship, Omega and Cycad also took part.