Cydan, a US-based orphan drug accelerator, has launched with $16m from a consortium including local drugs maker Pfizer’s corporate venturing unit.
Alongside Pfizer Venture Investments, which led the financing, were venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates and property debt manager Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
Barbara Dalton, vice-president of venture capital at Pfizer Venture Investments and a member of the Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist 100, said: “The Cydan accelerator model is a collaborative new way to explore therapeutic opportunities in the large and diverse rare disease space.
“This venture investment is aligned with and builds on our broad corporate strategic interest in the rare and orphan disease space.”
Cristina Csimma, chief executive of Cydan, said: “We are partnering with leading academic centres, patient foundations and biopharmaceutical companies to identify the most promising rare disease programs and conduct de-risking studies to accelerate development decisions. The most viable programs will be spun out of the Cydan accelerator as new startup companies focused on making an impact on the lives of patients with rare diseases.”
Csimma has held development leadership positions at Virdante Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth Research and Genetics Institute and was a principal at Clarus Ventures (that backed Virdante’s $47.75m series A round).
Joining her on Cydan’s founding management team are Chris Adams, chief business officer, who held the same role at FoldRx, which was acquired by Pfizer in 2010.