France-based microbiome-focused therapy developer Enterome has closed $52.6m in financing, including series E equity funding featuring pharmaceutical firm Takeda and food producer Nestlé.
The series E portion was led by microbiome investment vehicle Symbiosis and included Seventure Partners and its Health for Life Capital fund, Principia and Omnes Capital. Nestlé participated through its nutritional health division, Nestlé Health Science.
The company said it has made its first drawdown from a $48.2m loan facility agreed with the European Union-owned European Investment Bank in 2018, but has not confirmed that it made up part of the round.
Enterome is targeting the interaction between the gut microbiome and the immune system to develop treatments for cancer, autoimmune, inflammatory and metabolic indications.
The capital will primarily go towards the development of two assets: EO2401 will be advanced into two phase 1/2 clinical trials, for glioblastoma and adrenal tumours respectively, while EO2463 is expected to enter the clinic in 2021 for the treatment of lymphomas and leukaemias.
The company is also working on EM101, a potential therapy for inflammatory bowel disease that is currently in preclinical development. It plans to invest further in its technology and work with Takeda on proof-of-concept clinical data for a treatment for Crohn’s disease.
Enterome has collected approximately $130m in equity and debt financing since it was founded in 2012, raising $38.5m in an early 2018 series D round featuring Nestlé Health Science and pharmaceutical firms Bristol Myers Squibb and Lundbeck, the latter through corporate venturing arm Lundbeckfonden Ventures.
Seventure, Health for Life Capital, Omnes Capital and Principia also backed the series D round. It came after $16.3m series C round in 2016 that included Nestlé Health Science, Lundbeckfonden Ventures and Seventure, and a $13.9m series B round in 2014 co-led by the latter two that also featured Omnes Capital.
Enterome had secured $6.6m in a 2012 series A round also co-led by Lundbeckfonden Ventures and Seventure, with biopharmaceutical company Shire and food producer Danone subsequently also identified as investors. Danone no longer appeared to be a shareholder by 2018.
Seventure and Inra Transfer, the technology transfer arm of French public research institute Inra (since restructured into Inrae, the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment), had already supplied $1.8m in seed capital at an undisclosed date.
