ViewPoint Therapeutics, a US-based biotechnology spinout focused on eye diseases, closed a $35m series B round yesterday that was backed by pharmaceutical firm Novo.
The round was led by the TPG Growth-managed Rise Fund and included University of Michigan through its Michigan Investment in New Technology Startups (Mints) fund, Mission Bay Capital, Lagunita BioSciences, Biotechnology Value Fund and certain affiliates, and ViewPoint co-founder and chairman Ed Hurwitz.
Founded in 2014, ViewPoint is working on therapies for diseases caused by protein misfolding, a factor in age-related eye disorders such as cataracts – a clouding of the lens that leads to impaired vision – and presbyopia – a long-sightedness caused by the lens of the eye losing its elasticity.
The first preclinical candidate to emerge out of the company’s drug discovery platform is VP1-001, a treatment aimed at age-related cataracts.
The series B funding will go towards further development of VP1-001 through clinical proof-of-concept studies in patients with cataracts and presbyopia. ViewPoint also expects to advance several additional compounds.
Novo partner Peter Moldt and Heath Lukatch, a partner at TPG Growth, have joined the company’s board of directors in conjunction with their investments.
ViewPoint previously closed a $4m series A round in 2016 co-led by Mission Bay Capital and Lagunita Biosciences that also featured Mints, Asset Management Ventures, Biotechnology Value Fund and a range of private investors.
Leah Makley, co-founder and CEO of ViewPoint, said: “Cataracts remain the world’s leading cause of blindness, and this financing will meaningfully advance our efforts to develop and commercialise a ground-breaking treatment.
“The high level of interest in our series B from reputable life science investors, as well as the company’s existing investors, is a testament to the progress we have made to date and the promise ViewPoint’s approach holds.”
– The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.