US-based biopharmaceutical company Blade Therapeutics closed a $45m series B round yesterday led by Deerfield Management that featured pharmaceutical firms Pfizer, Novartis and Brisol-Myers Squibb.
Pfizer participated through its corporate venturing arm, Pfizer Venture Investments, while Novartis took part through its research division, Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research.
Osage University Partners, a fund backed by a multitude of universities, and MPM Capital returned for the round after providing an undisclosed amount of funding that was reported as a $6.5m series A in July 2015.
Blade Therapeutics will only secure the full amount of series B financing if all milestones are met, though details of those milestones were not revealed.
Blade Therapeutics was spun out of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Medicine in 2015. It is working on treatments for fibrosis, a condition that leads to tissue scarring, and is based on research by Harry Dietz and Victor McKusick.
The company plans to use the money to advance its selection and development of lead molecules.
Elaine Jones, executive director of venture capital at Pfizer Venture Investments, as well as William Slattery and Cameron Wheeler of Deerfield Management will join Blade’s board of directors.
Wendye Robbins, chief executive of Blade Therapeutics, said: “Now backed by this strong group of premier life science investors and strategic and equity pharma investors, we have the resources to accelerate our path to clinical development.
“Our scientists are world-class experts who previously brought cutting edge therapies and biomarker strategies to the clinic for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and Hepatitis C virus. At Blade we are committed to building the leading company in anti-fibrotic drug discovery and development.”