US-based biopharmaceutical company Harmony Biosciences closed a $270m funding round yesterday that included pharmaceutical firm Novo and Nan Fung Life Sciences, a subsidiary of property developer Nan Fung.
Financial services group Fidelity Management & Research Company also took part in the round, as did growth equity firm Valor Equity Partners and healthcare-focused investment firms HBM Healthcare Investments, Vivo Capital and VenBio Partners.
Harmony is developing drug treatments for rare and orphan diseases, particularly those which affect the central nervous system (CNS). It forms part of the Paragon Biosciences healthcare group.
Part of the capital will be used to fund a licensing deal with France-based pharmaceutical company Bioprojet to develop, register and market one of its drugs, pitolisant, in the US.
Pitolisant addresses sleep and CNS disorders by enhancing the activity of histaminergic neurons, neurotransmitters that stop firing when a person is asleep. It has received regulatory approval in the European Union for the treatment of narcolepsy.
Harmony and Bioprojet will collaborate on research and development through a joint development committee, and Harmony intends to submit a new drug application for pitolisant in 2018.
Harmony had not revealed any earlier funding. Octagon Capital Group was financial advisor for Harmony Biosciences for both the financing and the acquisition, while Katten Muchin Rosenman was legal counsel.