US-based diabetes treatment developer Semma Therapeutics closed a $114m series B round today that included medical device manufacturer Medtronic and pharmaceutical firms Novartis and SinoPharm.
SinoPharm contributed cash through its corporate venturing arm SinoPharm Capital. The round also featured 6 Dimensions Capital, an investment firm established by pharmaceutical firm WuXi AppTec’s WuXi Healthcare Ventures unit and Frontline Bioventures.
Eight Roads Ventures and Cowen Healthcare Investments co-led the round, which further included MPM Capital, F-Prime Capital Partners, Arch Venture Partners, Ori Healthcare Fund, Wu Capital and the JDRF T1D Fund.
Founded in 2014, Semma Therapeutics is working on stem cell-derived therapies, with an initial focus on type 1 diabetes mellitus patients that depend on insulin treatments. The drug candidate has shown effective at controlling diabetes in preclinical studies.
The money will allow Semma to progress the treatment through clinical proof-of-concept trials and explore other drug candidates. Daniel Auerbach, senior managing partner for Asia at Eight Roads, and Kevin Raidy, managing partner at Cowen, will join the board of directors.
Semma previously obtained an undisclosed sum from JDRF T1D in March 2017, following a $44m series A round in 2015 led by MPM with contributions from Medtronic, Novaris, Arch and F-Prime.
Mark Fishman, chairman of the board at Semma Therapeutics, said: “We are now well positioned, between Semma’s scientific progress and this recent financing, to bring Semma’s lead therapeutic through clinical proof of concept in patients with type 1 diabetes, while we expand into related arenas and build a leading regenerative medicine company.
“We are delighted that this accomplished group of investors share our mission to cure insulin-dependent diabetes.”