Clearside Biomedical, a US-based eye disease treatment developer that counts Santen Pharmaceuticals among its investors, completed a $20m series C round today.
The round was funded by Aju IB Investment, which acts as a subsidiary of financial services firm AJU Capital, Cormorant Asset Management, Perceptive Advisors, Rock Springs Capital Management and undisclosed existing Clearside investors.
Clearside is working on drug therapies for the treatment of eye diseases that cause blindness, and which will be delivered through the proprietary microinjector it has developed.
The company has three product candidates in clinical testing, the most advanced being a treatment for macular edema that is in phase 3 clinical trials.
The round brought Clearside’s overall funding to approximately $48m. Japan-based Santen initially invested as part of a $7.9m series A round also featuring Mountain Group Capital, Hatteras Venture Partners, Georgia Research Alliance Fund and Kenan Flagler Business School Private Equity Fund in 2013.
The company subsequently raised $16m in a September 2014 round backed by Santen, Hatteras, Mountain Group, Georgia Research Alliance Venture Fund and RusnanoMedInvest, a subsidiary of Russian state-owned investment firm Rusnano.
Trout Capital acted as an adviser to Clearside for the latest round.