Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, the strategic investment arm of pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, has co-led a $12m series A round for US-based cell therapy developer Sentien Biotechnologies.
The round was co-led by life sciences investment platform BioInnovation Capital and included MBL Venture Capital, the corporate venturing subsidiary of Medical & Biological Laboratories, as well as Chiesi Ventures and Mass Medical Angels.
Sentien is working on an acute kidney injury treatment known as SBI-101 that will combine mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) in a blood-filtration device. The MSCs will theoretically be able to continuously condition blood during illness to treat systemic inflammatory diseases.
Martin Heidecker, managing director of Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund USA, said: “Sentien has made remarkable progress in the short period of time since our seed investment and is ready to advance its first product, SBI-101, into the clinic.
“We are excited to build on this momentum, along with the other leading investors in this series A financing.”
Sentien raised more than $1m in seed funding from Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and pharmaceutical research company Portage Biotech in August 2015, according to a regulatory filing.