Inozyme Pharma, a US-based developer of mineralisation disorder treatments, received $67m in series A2 funding yesterday from investors including pharmaceutical firms Novo and Sanofi, the latter through its Sanofi Ventures unit.
The round was co-led by Pivotal BioVenture Partners, the healthcare investment firm formed by property developer Nan Fung, and venture capital firm Sofinnova Investments.
Investment managers RA Capital Management and Cowen Healthcare Investments, hedge fund manager Rock Springs Capital and VC firms Longitude Capital and New Enterprise Associates (NEA) also participated in the round.
Inozyme plans to use the funding to push its lead product candidate, an enzyme replacement therapy known as INZ-701, into clinical development to assess its effectiveness in treating calcification in the kidneys and vascular system.
The series A2 proceeds will also support the addition of another indication to INZ-701’s development as it heads toward expected clinical trials in 2020, and the development of another therapy that will target a rare bone disease.
The company had previously secured $49m in a late 2017 series A round led by Longitude Capital and backed by corporate venturing units Novo Ventures and Sanofi Ventures as well as NEA.
Axel Bolte, Inozyme’s co-founder and CEO, said: “This latest round of financing enables us to broaden our development pipeline and to bring INZ-701 through clinical proof of concept.
“We are excited to evolve our investor base by adding five highly regarded new investors who are committed to helping us achieve our goals, and we appreciate the continued support of our existing investors as Inozyme continues to grow.”
Inozyme’s technology was developed in the laboratory of co-founder and chairman Demetrios Braddock, an associate professor of pathology at Yale University’s School of Medicine.
