Switzerland-based rare disease therapy developer VectivBio launched on Tuesday with $35m in capital from investors including pharmaceutical firm Novo.
The corporate joined Inserm Transfer Initiative, the investment arm of research institute Inserm, as well as government-owned investment bank BPIfrance, Cowen Healthcare Investments, Tekla Healthcare Investors, Versant Ventures and OrbiMed in the round.
VectivBio is developing treatments for a range of serious rare diseases. Its lead asset, Apraglutide, targets short bowel syndrome (SBS), which is caused by the physical or functional loss of the large or small intestine.
SBS currently afflicts an estimated 35,000 people in the US and Europe, typically affecting patients suffering extensive intestinal resection, due to chronic inflammatory bowel disease, congenital abnormalities or acute events such as trauma.
VectivBio was spun off from rare genetic disease medicine developer Therachon, a former portfolio company of Novo that was acquired by pharmaceutical firm Pfizer for up to $810m in May 2019.
Therachon CEO Luca Santarelli has taken the same role at VectivBio. He said: “We are thrilled to launch VectivBio and are committed to continue our quest of bringing transformational medicines to patients living with serious rare diseases.
“Rare diseases remain an area of significant unmet medical need, where our team’s proven track record and entrepreneurial mindset will enable us to have a positive impact.”
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.