Busy biotechs bag $121M in VC cash

  • Seres Health, a 2014 Fierce 15 honoree, raised $48 million in Series C cash, funding that will help take its lead candidate, a treatment for Clostridium difficile infection, into Phase III. Seres' drug, SER-109, is a Tylenol-sized capsule designed to change the weather inside patients' guts, moving the so-called microbiome out of a diseased state and back toward health. The company, founded by Flagship Ventures in 2012, expects to begin late-stage trials early next year. More
  • Pennsylvania's PMV Pharmaceuticals bagged a $30 million A round to support its early-stage work on drugs targeting the cancer-related p53 protein. OrbiMed led the round, joined by Osage University Partners and founder InterWest Partners, giving PMV the money it needs to get its first-in-class small-molecule drugs into preclinical development. Release
  • Apellis Pharmaceuticals put together a $33 million Series C round to follow through on the promise of three immunotherapy programs. Led by Morningside Ventures and AJU IB Investment, Apellis' raise will support studies on nocturnal hemoglobinuria, a rare disease of the bone marrow; COPD; and geographic atrophy, which is an advanced form of dry age-related macular degeneration. News
  • Chinese biotech CANbridge Life Sciences closed a $10 million A round to flesh out its mission of bringing established Western drugs onto the Asian market. Qiming Venture Partners and TF Capital, run by Chinese CRO Tigermed, led the financing, which CANbridge said will fund its business development efforts. The company's plan is to partner up with biopharma players around the world to develop, submit and commercialize existing drugs in underserved nations. Item