Pharmaceutical firm Novo’s corporate venturing unit, Novo Ventures, joined unnamed new and existing investors to provide $60.8m in financing for UK-based fungal infection drug developer F2G on Wednesday.
F2G is working on therapeutics for life-threatening fungal diseases and is the creator of a class of antifungal agents known as orotomides which target resistant and rare fungal mould infections.
The capital will go to a phase 2b clinical trial for the company’s lead agent, Olorofim, for fungal infections including invasive aspergillosis, lomentosporiosis, fusariosis, scopulariopsosis, scedosporiosis and coccidioidomycosis.
Novo Ventures partner Naveed Siddiqi Partner is joining F2G’s board of directors, taking the place of senior partner Martin Edwards, who is retiring.
Siddiqi said: “As the largest shareholder in the company since 2018, we are pleased to support F2G’s management team as they strive to bring this important new treatment rapidly to patients.”
The unit had backed the company’s last round, in 2016, when it raised $60m from investors also including Brace Pharma Capital and Novartis Venture Funds, on behalf of pharmaceutical companies EMS and Novartis.
Sectoral Asset Management led the 2016 round, which also featured Aisling Capital, Advent Life Sciences, Sunstone Capital and Merifin Capital.
F2G had secured $30m in a 2012 round backed by Novartis Bioventures and Astellas Venture Fund, an investment vehicle for pharmaceutical firm Astella, as well as Advent Life Sciences, Sunstone Capital, Merifin Capital and K Nominees.
Astellas, K Nominees and Merifin had previously participated in an $11.6m round led by BankInvest four years earlier.
