US-based pharmaceutical company Principia Biopharma has secured $50m in a series B round backed by SR One, the corporate venturing subsidiary of healthcare company GlaxoSmithKline.
Founded in 2008, Principia develops small molecule inhibitor drugs to treat cancer and auto-immune diseases using technology originally licensed from University of California, San Francisco.
The round was led by private equity firm Sofinnova Ventures and also included all of Principia’s existing investors, including Morgenthaler Ventures, New Leaf Venture Partners, OrbiMed Advisors, and Mission Bay Capital. Those backers, as well as SR One, previously invested in a $40m series A round for Principia.
Principia will use the funding to advance a product pipeline that includes an oral inhibitor that could be used for autoimmune disease and cancer and an inhibitor treatment for solid tumours and.