Oxular, a UK-based retinal therapeutics developer backed by drug encapsulation company Hovione Scientia and contract pharmaceutical services provider Consort Medical, received $37m in funding yesterday.
Venture capital firm Forbion Capital Partners led the round, which also featured investment firm NeoMed, commercialisation firm IP Group and V-Bio Ventures, a venture fund affiliated with life science institute VIB.
Founded in 2014 as Precision Ocular, Oxular is developing therapies for retinal disease. Its drug administration technology is able to continuously deliver formulations over the course of up to a year and directly to the relevant tissue in the eye.
The company’s pipeline includes assets aimed at conditions such as diabetic macular oedema and age-related macular degeneration, as well as other indications such as ocular cancers.
The funding has been allocated to the phase 2 clinical development of Oxular’s lead programme, OXU-001, which is targeting diabetic macular oedema, the leading cause of blindness in young adults. It will also support accelerated development of the company’s early-stage pipeline.
Dmitrij Hristodorov, principal at Forbion, will join Oxular’s board of directors. Oxular CEO Thomas Cavanagh said: “We are pleased to add such a renowned investor as Forbion to our already supportive investor base, including IP Group, NeoMed and V-Bio Ventures.
“These are experienced healthcare investors who see the potential of Oxular’s disruptive technology and innovative treatment approach – which is, tissue-specific delivery of potent drug products that safely provide up to 12-months’ treatment durability for retinal disease.”
Oxular completed a $20.6m series A round in 2016 backed by Hovione Scientia and Consort Medical, which has since been acquired by its peer Recipharm, as well as V-Bio Ventures, NeoMed and Imperial Innovations, the commercialisation firm since acquired by IP Group.
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.
