HepaRegenix, a Germany-based liver disease medicine spinout of University Hospital Tübingen, completed a series B round yesterday that exceeded €11m ($12.2m) with investors including pharmaceutical firms Boehringer Ingelheim and Novo.
Multi-institute tech transfer company Ascenion, public-private partnership High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and Coparion, an investment fund backed by the German government and the EU, also took part in the round. Boehringer Ingelheim particiapted through its Venture Fund.
Founded in 2015, HepaRegenix is working on drugs for acute and chronic liver diseases which target a molecular pathway called mitogen-activated protein kinase 4 (MKK4) thought to boost the regeneration of liver cells even where the organ has been severely damaged.
The capital will go to conducting clinical trials on HepaRegenix’s first candidate later this year, building on promising feedback on MKK4 from pre-clinical modeling. Target indications could include non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, a disease characterised by liver inflammation and scarring from accumulated fat deposits.
MKK4 was discovered by researchers led by Lars Zender, director and chair of the eighth internal medicine unit at University Hospital Tübingen’s Department of Medicine.
HepaRegenix previously raised $9.4m of series A funding in 2017 co-led by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Novo Seeds, a corporate venturing arm of Novo, with participation from HTGF and Coparion.
Ascenion participated in the series B round as an existing investor, but further details could not be ascertained.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.