Germany-based biopharmaceutical company Omeicos Therapeutics has closed a €17m ($19.5m) series C round featuring industrial construction and engineering services provider SMS Group.
German state-owned development bank KfW, public-private partnership High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and Berlin state-backed VC Fonds Technologie Berlin also invested along with Vesalius Biocapital Partners, Falck Revocable Trust and Remiges Ventures’ BioPharma Fund.
Omeicos Therapeutics is working on oral therapies for disorders including inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases. Its treatments rely on a synthetic analogue of omega-3 fatty acid-derived epoxyeicosanoids, a substance released from cells to promotes tissue regeneration.
The approach is based on work by Wolf-Hagen Schunck, John Falck, Dominik Müller and Robert Fischer at Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine, an institute that forms part of research group Helmholtz Association.
Omeicos will use the series C funding to advance its lead candidate, OMT-28, into a phase 2 clinical trial. OMT-28 is aimed at persistent atrial fibrillation, a condition characterised by an irregular and often abnormally fast heartbeat.
The cash will also support the expansion of a pipeline targeting other diseases, including eye conditions through US subsidiary Omeicos Ophthalmics, which was launched in August 2017.
Omeicos previously closed its series B round in October 2017, after venture capital firm Remiges Ventures added an undisclosed amount to an $8.7m tranche co-led by SMS Group and Vesalius seven months earlier.
The first close also featured Helmholtz’s technology transfer office, Ascension, as well as KfW, HTGF, VC Fonds Technologie Berlin, Falck Revocable Trust and members of Omeicos’ management team.
Vesalius had already led a $6.6m series A round for Omeicos in 2015 that also featured SMS Group, HTGF, KfW and VC Fonds Technology Berlin, following an undisclosed amount of seed capital from HTGF in 2012.
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.
