US-based biopharmaceutical company Aerpio Therapeutics has raised $22m in a round led by investment firm OrbiMed Advisors that also featured healthcare company Novartis.
Novartis participated in the round alongside other existing investors Satter Investment Management, Kearny Venture Partners, Venture Investors, Triathlon Medical Ventures and Athenian Venture Partners.
Aerpio develops therapies for vascular diseases and will use the funds partly to advance its lead candidate, AKB‐9778, a small molecule that inhibits a protein which can help to cause vascular destabilisation. AKB‐9778 is currently in Phase 2 clinical trials.
The remainder of the funding will also be used to further develop a second pipeline candidate, AKB-4924.
Novartis’ corporate venturing unit Novartis Venture Fund previously backed a $27m series A round fin 2012 for Aerpio which also included AgeChem Venture Fund and a subsequent $9m round that closed in November 2013. Aerpio has now secured approximately $63m since it was founded in 2011.