Chiasma, an Israel-based biotechnology company backed by conglomerate Ofer Holdings, completed a $70m series E round on Friday following an initial tranche of $33.8m raised in January 2015.
The round was funded Springs Capital, Sofinnova Ventures, MPM Capital, F2 Capital, 7 Med Health Ventures, Abingworth and Arch Venture Partners.
Ofer subsidiary Ofer Hi-Tech took part in a $44m series C round in 2006 that also featured Arch Venture Partners, MPM Capital and F2 Venture.
In total, Chiasma has secured about $191m, with other past investors including F3 Ventures, Jerusalem Global Ventures and Yissum Research Development, the technology transfer office of Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Chiasma raised the money following a the cancelisation of a $595m commercialisation deal with pharmaceutical company Roche in July 2014, following the results of a Phase 3 clinical trial for Chiasma’s lead candidate treatment for acromegaly, a potentially fatal disorder caused by an excess of growth hormones.
Chiasma will use the series E funding to expand its sales and marketing efforts, advance its pipeline and to submit a new drug application to the US Food and Drug Administration in the second quarter of 2015. It will also begin clinical trials for its octreotide capsules in the EU.
Chiasma’s technology is based on research conducted by Muli Ben Sasson, a cell biologist at Hebrew University’s Hadassah Medical School.