Vedanta Biosciences, a US-based developer of treatments for immune-mediated diseases, increased its series C round to $45.5m yesterday, adding $18.5m from investors including materials producer JSR Corporation and medical services provider SymBiosis.
Shunway Capital and Partners Investment also participated in the extension, which follows a $27m first tranche closed in January 2019.
Pharmaceutical companies Bristol-Myers Squibb and PureTech Health both participated in the initial close, as did philanthropic organisation Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rock Springs Capital, Invesco Asset Management and Seventure Partners.
Founded by PureTech in 2010, Vedanta is working on drugs to treat immune-mediated diseases, which are caused by the immune system attacking the patient’s central nervous system. Its medicines are being developed to isolate specific bacterial strains from the human microbiome.
Proceeds from the round will be used to accelerate development of Vedanta’s candidates, funding a phase 1/2 study of a food allergy treatment, a phase 1b/2 study of candidate for a candidate targeting certain cancers and a phase 2 trial for a clostridium difficile infection-focused drug.
Vedanta is also using a portion of the capital to finance a phase 1 clinical study of VE202, a candidate intended to treat inflammatory bowel disease.
The company received a undisclosed amount of funding from Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation in July 2018, adding to $50m it raised from PureTech, Rock Springs, Invesco and Health For Life Capital in 2016.