Chemicals producer Asahi Kasei and pharmaceutical firms Lundbeck and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have participated in a $30m round for Israel-based infectious disease therapy developer Atox Bio that closed yesterday.
Life sciences investment firm Arix Bioscience led the round, providing $8m according to Reuters. Adams Street Partners, OrbiMed, Becker and Integra Holdings also invested, GSK and Lundbeck taking part through respective subsidiaries SR One and Lundbeckfonden Ventures.
Atox Bio was founded in 2003 and focuses on developing treatments for patients with severe infections. Its lead candidate, Reltecimod, is a peptide that restores a patient’s immune response to severe infections.
Reltecimod is currently in a phase 3 clinical study for patients with necrotising soft tissue infections, which are also known as flesh eating bacteria. The cash will fund a phase 2 clinical study into Reltecimod’s use in treating acute kidney injury.
SR One led a $23m series E round for Atox Bio in 2014 with participation from Lundbeckford Ventures and OrbiMed Israel.
Atox received $2.1m in funding in 2010 before seed-stage investment firm Esperante Ventures and an undisclosed private investor provided $3.3m of funding in 2011. The company raised another $2.1m in 2012, according to a securities filing.
Dan Teleman, CEO of Atox Bio, said: “We are excited to welcome such high-quality investors into our strong existing syndicate. The closing of this round, which was oversubscribed, reflects the significant achievements we have made to date in the development of Reltecimod.”