US-based cancer drug developer Tarveda Therapeutics has closed a $30m series D round featuring pharmaceutical company Novo.
Versant Ventures led the round, which included fellow venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates (NEA), NanoDimension and Flagship Pioneering, the latter having rebranded from Flgaship Ventures in December 2016.
Founded in 2011 as Blend Biosciences and later known as Blend Therapeutics, Tarveda is working on miniaturised drug conjugates it calls Pentarins that are being engineered to treat solid cancer tumours by injecting potent therapeutic payloads into the tumour tissue.
The capital will support the further development of the Pentarin platform and phase 1 dose-escalation and safety studies as well as phase 2a studies for a conjugate that will treat neuroendocrine and small-cell lung cancers.
Drew Fromkin, president and CEO of Tarveda, said: “We believe that our enhanced financial position will enable us to make substantial progress in advancing our two lead programs and our broader pipeline of development opportunities with our Pentarin platform.”
Tarveda has now raised $108m in funding altogether. Novo and NEA co-led its $38m series C round in January 2016, investing alongside Flagship, NanoDimension and Eminent Venture Capital.