US-based orphan-drug accelerator Cydan closed a $34m round yesterday featuring Pfizer Venture Investments and Lundbeckfond Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiaries of pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Lundbeck.
Venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA) led the round, which included Alexandria Venture Investments, the strategic investment arm of life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, as well as Longitude Capital.
Founded in 2013, Cydan identifies promising treatments for rare, monogenic diseases and develops them using a de-risking process, before spinning out independent companies to advance the treatments through clinical trials and regulatory approval.
Cydan has so far spun out two companies, launching Vtesse in January 2015 with $25m in funding from investors to progress treatments for genetic disease Niemann-Pick Type C1.
Vtesse was acquired by biopharmaceutical company Sucampo Pharmaceuticals for $200m in April 2017. The second spinout, Imara, raised $31m in April 2016 to continue development of a treatment for sickle cell disease.
Cydan launched in April 2013 with $16m in financing from NEA, Pfizer Venture Investments and Alexandria Venture Investments. It raised a further $10m from Lundbeckfond Ventures, Bay City Capital, NEA and Alexandria Venture Investments in October the same year.
Chris Adams, Cydan’s CEO, said: “This round of financing shows continued confidence by our syndicate that our approach is effective and extends our operations for another four years, increasing our ability to positively impact outcomes for patients with rare genetic diseases.”