AM-Pharma, a Netherlands-based kidney injury treatment developer backed by pharmaceutical firms AbbVie and Pfizer, has added $52m to a funding round that now totals $182m.
Cowen Healthcare Investments, an affiliate of investment banking firm Cowen, supplied $25.5m in equity funding alongside a $26.5m finance facility from European Investment Bank’s Infectious Diseases Finance Facility, which forms part of its Horizon 2020 research and innovation initiative.
The company raised $130m for the first close of the round in July 2019. That tranche was co-led by LSP and Andera Partners with contributions from Forbion Capital Partners, Ysios Capital, Kurma Partners, Idinvest Partners, BB Pureos Bioventures and Gilde Healthcare.
Founded in 2001, AM-Pharma is working on a therapy for acute kidney injury. The condition is often a complication of another serious illness and causes a patient’s kidneys to stop working properly, with consequences as severe as complete kidney failure and death.
The company is currently focusing on patients suffering from acute kidney injury following sepsis, but is also exploring other indications.
AM-Pharma’s lead asset produced positive results in a phase 2 clinical trial and it is preparing a phase 3 trial. The additional capital allocated to that upcoming study and subsequent marketing authorisation applications.
The round increased the funding disclosed by AM-Pharma to nearly $340m to date. Pfizer injected $87.5m in 2015 as part of a deal that gave the corporate an option to purchase the company upon successful completion of the phase 2 trials.
Gilde Healthcare led AM-Pharma’s $15.8m series E round the previous year, with participation from AbbVie, Idinvest Partners, BB Biotech Ventures, Biofund, Kurma Partners, Ysios Capital and Inventages, a fund manager formed with support from food and drink processing conglomerate Nestlé.
AM-Pharma had secured $40m in a 2011 series D round also featuring Idinvest Partners, BB Biotech Ventures, Kurma Partners, Ysios Capital and Forbion Capital Partners, after $10.9m in series C funding from Inventages and Forbion in 2008 and $3.4m in pre-series C funding from the same two investors a year earlier.
