Dr Martin Welschof, CEO of Opsona Therapeutics
Dublin-based firm Opsona Therapeutics (Opsona) has raised an additional €3m (US$4m) in a second closing of its previously announced Series C equity financing. Omnes Capital has come on board as a new investor, bringing the total raised by Opsona in this Series C financing to €36m (US$48.6m).
Opsona is developing medicines targeting key structures of the innate immune system.
Dr Martin Welschof, CEO of Opsona, said he is delighted that Omnes Capital is joining the Series C consortium of venture capital and corporate venture firms.
In April, Opsona raised €33m (US$43m) from Novartis Venture Fund, Fountain Healthcare Partners, Roche Venture Fund, Seroba-Kernel Life Sciences, BB Biotech Ventures, Sunstone Capital, Baxter Ventures, Amgen Ventures and EMBL Ventures.
“The second closing of our Series C with Omnes Capital further validates the great medical and commercial potential of our drug candidate OPN-305,” said Welschof.
Opsona’s lead product, OPN-305, is described as a “humanised monoclonal IgG4 antibody”.
The company is to use today’s additional investment, as part of its overall Series C financing, to supplement funding a placebo-controlled clinical study into OPN-305.
This study, the company said, will be “multi-centred, double-blinded and placebo-controlled” in order to test and evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of its chief product that is targeted at patients who have had renal (kidney) transplants, and who are at risk of what is called ‘delayed graft function’.
Opsona confirmed this would be the first clinical indication for the development of OPN-305. The clinical study has already started.
The drug has already been tested in a Phase I clinical trial in healthy volunteers and in a pilot cohort of renal transplant recipients.
Dr Bruno Montanari, life sciences director, Omnes Capital, said he was looking forward to helping Opsona progess its lead product through the Phase II efficacy study.
This study aims to prevent delayed graft function (DGF) in renal transplantation.
Montanari said this was an indication with “major unmet medical need” and “attractive” commercial potential.
“In addition, I am interested in exploring the full potential of OPN-305 in additional disease indications,” he said.
