Ovid Therapeutics, a US-based developer of treatments for neurological diseases, has raised approximately $25.9m in equity funding from investors including pharmaceutical company Takeda, according to a regulatory filing.
Founded in 2014, Ovid is working on therapies for rare neurological diseases. Its lead product candidate, currently known as OV101, is being developed to combat symptoms of Angelman syndrome and Fragile X syndrome.
The filing did not list Takeda as an investor but it followed an announcement last week that Takeda had provided an undisclosed amount of funding for Ovid as part of a development and commercialisation agreement.
The agreement will involve the development and commercialisation of TAK-935, a Takeda drug candidate that will treat rare paediatric epilepsies by inhibiting the CH24H enzyme. It has advanced through phase 1 clinical studies and is moving into phase 1b/2a trials.
Ovid has now raised a total of approximately $106m, initially securing $5.1m in March 2015 from investors including DoubleLine Equity Healthcare Fund. It added $75m in series B funding from investors including Sanofi-Genzyme BioVentures, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Sanofi, five months later.
Fidelity Management and Research Company led the series B round, which included DoubleLine, Cowen Private Investments, Tekla Capital Management, Sphera Global Healthcare Fund, Jennison Associates, Redmile Group and Cormorant Asset Management.