Lundbeckfond contributes to $25M B round for AlloCure's Phase II stem cell study

New investor Lundbeckfond Ventures has contributed to a $25 million venture round for AlloCure, a Burlington, MA-based stem cell company. The Series B cash will be used to advance AC607--AlloCure's lead program--into a mid-stage study for acute kidney injury. SV Life Sciences and Novo A/S also contributed to the round.

AC607 landed fast track designation at the FDA earlier this year, after the company touted the successful conclusion of an early-stage study of its treatment, a stem cell therapy derived from bone marrow cells. There are no effective treatments for AKI, says AlloCure, and that puts the company in line to develop a new treatment for a key unmet medical condition.  

"Building on the encouraging AC607 Phase I results presented last fall at the American Society of Nephrology annual meeting, AlloCure is poised to conduct a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial of AC607 for the treatment of AKI beginning this summer at a number of the leading academic institutions and hospitals in the United States," says CEO Robert M. Brenner. "We are very pleased to have secured the necessary financing to support the company through the completion of this critical work, and we welcome Lundbeckfond Ventures and Mette Kirstine Agger to the AlloCure board of directors."

Lundbeckfond Ventures is the venture arm of the Lundbeck Foundation, which owns a controlling interest in Lundbeck. The venture group operates independently of the pharma company.

- here's the press release