CalciMedica, a US-based immune disorder drug developer backed by pharmaceutical firms Biogen and GlaxoSmithKline, secured $15m on Friday in a series C round led by venture capital firm Valence Life Sciences.
The round included Bering Capital, Mesa Verde Venture Partners and Sanderling Ventures and it took the company’s overall equity and debt financing to approximately $73m.
Founded in 2006, CalciMedica is developing small molecule drugs for immune system-driven diseases. Its lead product candidate, Auxora, is focused on coronavirus-driven pneumonia.
The series C cash will fund an ongoing randomised clinical study of the candidate in Covid-19 patients in addition to enhancing manufacturing capacity. The company raised $2.5m in a 2014 equity round, following $37m of debt financing between 2010 and 2012, according to regulatory filings.
Biogen led a $12m series C round closed in 2009 that included GlaxoSmithKline subsidiary SR One and Sanderling Ventures, which had led an SR One-backed series B round of undisclosed size for CalciMedica in 2007. SR One had supplied an undisclosed amount of seed funding the year before.