Pfizer Venture Investments, the corporate venturing unit of US-listed drugs company Pfizer, has co-led as a new investor the $30m series E round for Neuronetics, which treats depression.
Venture capital firm Polaris Venture Partners also co-led the E round, and was joined by peers Investor Growth Capital, New Leaf Venture Partners, Three Arch Partners, Interwest Partners, Onset Ventures and Quaker BioVentures, while Accuitive Medical Ventures (which had been launched in 2004 out of medical device incubator The Innovation Factory) and KBL Healthcare Ventures were not mentioned having been previous investors.
Neuronetics previously raised $30m in its D round in August 2009 and $35m in its C round.
Bruce Shook, executive president of Neuronetics, said: "The financial resources, experience and knowledge that Polaris and Pfizer bring to our company will allow us to build on our success and accelerate our efforts to bring NeuroStar [TMS Therapy, which uses magnetic-field pulses to treat the brain] to the millions of people suffering from depression."
Elaine Jones, executive director of Pfizer Venture Investments, will be an observer to Neuronetics’ board and said: "Pfizer has had a longstanding interest in treating depression.
"We look at Neuronetics’ progress as the beginning of a potentially important advance in how we treat this often debilitating, chronic and costly disease."