MedImmune Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of AstraZeneca, has helped Coferon, a US-based healthcare company, raise $12m.
The unit was joined in Coferon’s series B by venture firms Hatteras Venture Partners and Ascent Biomedical Ventures.
Dr. Colin Goddard, who had been acting as a part-time executive chairman for Coferon and was formerly chief executive of OSI Pharmaceuticals, before its $4 billion acquisition by Astellas Pharma in 2010, has becomeCoferon’s executive chairman.
Michael Gutch, managing director of MedImmune Ventures, said: “After extensive technical diligence we were all convinced of the enormous potential of this ground-breaking platform. Coferon’s highly experienced management team and strategy of a focused, capital-efficient development plan in the areas of epigenetic regulation and anti-infectives, combined with select collaborative partnerships, provides us with a compelling risk/reward proposition.”
The company is in the process of establishing its headquarters and laboratory at the Long Island High Tech Incubator on the campus of Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York.