Aileron Therapeutics, a US-based biopharmaceutical company backed by the corporate venturing units of pharmaceutical companies Roche, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly, has received $33m in a second tranche of series E funding.
The funding was led by AJU IB Investments and two undisclosed investors, and also featured all of Aileron’s existing backers, including Roche Venture Fund, Novartis Ventures, SR One, which invests in behalf of GlaxoSmithKline, Lilly Ventures, Apple Tree Partners and Excel Venture Management.
The first tranche of Aileron’ series E funding took place in November 2013, and the extension brings the total round size up to $48m.
Aileron is developing drugs for the treatment of cancer. The capital will support clinical trials of ALRN-6924, a re-activator of P53, a tumour suppressor protein, which the company is developing.
Joseph Yanchik, president and chief executive of Aileron Therapeutics, said: “ This financing enables Aileron to rapidly move forward the clinical development of ALRN-6924 as well as on-going translational research. P53 is one of the most exciting and valuable oncology targets given its potential to impact a very broad range of cancers and patients,”
Aileron has raised approximately $130m since being founded in 2005. Novartis has been an investor since the company’s $7m series A round in 2006, while all four pharmaceutical firms invested in its $52m series D round, which closed in January 2013.