A day after hiring corporate venturing veteran Ron Laufer, MedImmune Ventures has joined the fourth round of funding for US-based drug development company Inotek Pharmaceuticals.
Inotek raised $18m in its series D round, with MedImmune, the biotech corporate venturing division of Anglo-Swedish pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca, reinvesting.
Devon Park Bioventures, a US-based venture capital firm, led the round as a new investor. Other investors were VCs Rho Ventures, Care Capital and Pitango Venture Capital and Bio*One Capital, a part of the Singapore Economic Development Board with more than $600m under management.
However, Inotek’s other previous investors, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Hercules Technology Growth Capital and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Company were not mentioned as returning in the round.
Between 1997 and 2004, Inotek was funded through more than $50m in federal and private grants and contracts but subsequently raised $79m in three rounds of venture funding with its series C in October 2007.
Proceeds from the series D financing will be used to advance Inotek’s eye-drop, INO-8875, through multiple-dose phase two clinical trials in glaucoma.