US-based biopharmaceutical company Sorbent Therapeutics has raised $6.5m of a $15m series D round that has so far featured reinvestment from Novartis Venture Fund, the corporate venturing unit of Switzerland-based drugs company Novartis.
Other existing investors that contributed to the round include venture capital firms CMEA Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, Sofinnova Ventures and AgeChem.
Sorbent has recently enrolled 275 patients with heart failure into the phase 2b clinical trial of CLP-1001, a drug that aims to reduce cardiac disease by removing excess water and sodium in the gastrointestinal tract.
Detlef Albrecht, Sorbent’s president and chief executive, said: “I would like to thank our existing investors for their continued support. This new round of funding and the progress in our lead CLP program take us several steps closer to achieving our goal of bringing a new therapeutic option to advanced congestive heart failure patients.”
The latest round of financing brings Sorbent’s equity and debt financing to date to almost $110m, according to its press releases and SEC filings. Novartis previously led the $36m second tranche of Sorbent’s series B round in 2012.