True North Therapeutics, a US-based biotechnology company focused on rare diseases, obtained $40m in series C capital yesterday from investors including pharmaceutical firms GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Baxalta.
GSK and Baxalta took part through their respective corporate venturing subsidiaries SR One and Baxalta Ventures, investing alongside New Leaf Venture Partners, which led the round, Perceptive Advisors, Cowen Private Investments, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), MPM Capital and OrbiMed.
Spun out by drug developer iPierian in 2013, True North is working on treatments for rare illnesses such as cold agglutinin disease, a condition which results in a patient’s own auto-antibodies targeting and destroying red blood cells, causing anaemia, fatigue and potentially life-threatening thrombosis.
The series D funding will go towards further clinical development of True North’s lead drug candidate,a treatment for cold agglutinin disease and other rare conditions related to the immune system. The company expects to begin a Phase 1b clinical trial later this month.
Isaac Manke, partner at New Leaf, will join True North’s board of directors in conjunction with the round.
True North closed a $35m series B round led by OrbiMed and backed by SR One, Baxter Ventures, which acts as the corporate venturing arm of drug developer Baxter, KPCB and MPM in April 2015.
The company secured $22m in series A funding in June 2014 from SR One, Baxter Ventures and Biogen Idec New Ventures, the investment unit of pharmaceutical company Biogen, as well as MPM and KPCB.
The series A round incorporated money obtained by iPierian in a $30m round in 2013, partly to fund the spinout of True North.