US-based cancer and fibrosis treatment developer Galecto completed a $64m funding round on Friday backed by pharmaceutical firms Novo and Bristol Myers-Squibb (BMS).
Soleus Capital and Eir Ventures co-led the round, while Cormorant Asset Management, Janus Henderson Investors, Hadean Ventures, Sphera, Asymmetry Capital Management, Canica, OrbiMed, Ysios Capital, HBM Healthcare Investments, Sunstone Capital, Seventure and Maverick Ventures also took part.
Founded in 2011, Galecto is working on drugs that target galectins, a group of proteins involved in diseases such as fibrosis, cancer and inflammation. It is advancing research originally conducted at Lund University and University of Edinburgh.
Galecto absorbed its peer PharmAkea in January 2020, giving it access to a treatment intended to prevent the deposition and accumulation of collagen which can cause tissue scarring.
The latest capital injection will extend Galecto’s runway into late 2022 and will allow the company to seek conditional approval in the EU for its treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The money will also support pipeline development and expansion.
Stephan Christgau, managing partner of Eir Ventures, will join rejoin Galecto’s board of directors in conjunction with the round. He previously held a seat from 2011 to 2019.
BMS, Novo’s investment unit Novo Seeds and their peer Merck Group’s subsidiary M Ventures backed a $90m series C round in late 2018 that was co-led by Ysios Capital and OrbiMed. The round further included HBM, Maverick, Seventure, Sunstone Capital and OrbiMed Israel.
Novo Seeds and M Ventures – then called Merck Serono Ventures – backeda $4m round for Galecto in 2013 together with Seed Capital and Sunstone Capital, after the same consortium had injected an undisclosed seed sum in 2012.
Galecto’s shareholders also include commercialisation firm Forskarpatent i Syd, which helped establish the company.
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.
