Pharmaceutical firm Roche’s Venture Fund helped Italy-based autoimmune disease therapy developer Enthera Pharmaceuticals increase its series A round to €35m ($42.4m) yesterday.
The round’s $32.8m first close was co-led by AbbVie’s corporate venturing arm, AbbVie Ventures, with venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners in July 2020, and included Indaco Venture Partners and undisclosed individual investors.
Enthera was founded in 2016 and is developing biologics – medical products derived from living things – to treat autoimmune diseases. It was the first spinoff from Sofinnova’s biotechnology-focused accelerator, BiovelocITA.
The company’s pipeline is targeting type one diabetes and inflammatory bowel diseases and its drugs are intended to work by re-establishing stem cell capabilities in the pancreas and gut.
Carole Nuechterlein, head of Roche Venture Fund, has joined Enthera’s board of directors in connection with its investment. Sofinnova, JDRF T1D, Silvano Spinelli and Gabriella Camboni supplied $4.7m in seed capital for the company in 2018.