VC groups put up $165M for a trifecta of biotech rounds

ProNAi CEO Mina Sooch

ProNAi lands $59.5M round for mid-stage lymphoma program

A Detroit-based biotech has landed a $59.5 million round to continue its work on a nucleic acid-based DNAi cancer therapy now in a mid-stage trial. ProNAi Therapeutics CEO Mina Sooch says that's enough cash to get the company through 2016, with plans to pursue partnership talks as well as a discussion with the FDA about potential ways to accelerate the approval process for their lead therapy.

ProNAi is concentrating its efforts on PNT2258, a single stranded oligonucleotide that relies on an in-licensed liposomal technology to deliver the drug. The drug targets the BCL2 gene and has demonstrated signs of positive efficacy in interim Phase II results unveiled at ASH last year. And more Phase II results will be discussed later in the year.

"We developed it many years ago," Sooch tells FierceBiotech, gaining patent protection on a new therapeutic approach that originated in a PhD program.  The company got started a decade ago. After struggling to come up with the cash it needed in 2008 and 2009, ProNAi was able to get into the clinic and can now see its way through mid-stage work on non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The big idea here is that this approach can put the brakes on cancer cell proliferation, spur apoptosis, or cell death, and minimize any collateral damage to patients by precise delivery. Success with the lead therapy could open the door to other drugs and cancer targets.

ProNAi has remained small, looking to get as much out of its funding as possible. Sooch says that the staff is under 10 people now, but she says that will expand to 15 to 20 now that the latest funding round is in place.

Vivo Capital of Palo Alto, CA led the round, with new investors Frazier Healthcare Ventures, OrbiMed Advisors, Adams Street Partners, RA Capital Management, Caxton Alternative Management, Hopen Life Science Ventures, Sectoral Asset Management, and Janus Capital Management LLC joining in. Existing investors including Capital Midwest Fund, Apjohn Ventures Fund, Amherst Fund, and Grand Angels also participated in the financing round.

"ProNAi is developing a new class of DNAi therapeutics that has demonstrated promising results in lymphoma patients," said Vivo Capital's Albert Cha.

- here's the press release

Venrock leads a $55M round for gene therapy player Avalanche

Venrock led a $55 million round for Avalanche Biotechnologies, a Menlo Park, CA-based upstart with a gene therapy program in the clinic for wet, age-related macular degeneration. The lead therapy is in a Phase IIa using an adeno-associated virus for delivery. Much of the money is being earmarked for manufacturing and clinical infrastructure for the lead program, with plans to rev up new work on some other pipeline programs. Deerfield, Adage Capital Management, Redmile Group, Rock Springs Capital, Sabby Capital, as well as an affiliate of Cowen & Company and two undisclosed blue chip health care fund joined in on the round. "We believe Avalanche's proprietary approach to gene therapy holds promise to meet unmet medical needs for patients suffering from wet AMD and other retinal diseases that may lead to vision loss," says Ben Koh, a partner at Venrock. Release

A-list investors back Principia Biopharma with $50M B round

A group of A-list venture groups have joined hands on a $50 million B round for South San Francisco-based Principia Biopharma, a biotech with R&D work underway on small molecules for autoimmune diseases and cancer. Working with technology spun out of UC San Francisco, the company says it has an oral BTK inhibitor, an FGFR inhibitor program for solid tumors and an oral IL-17 pathway inhibitor program ready for the clinic. Principia earlier raised $40 million in a Series A round. Sofinnova Ventures led the round, with all of Principia's institutional investors joining in: Morgenthaler Ventures, New Leaf Venture Partners, OrbiMed, SR One, Mission Bay Capital along with additional investors. "In just over three years, the company's prolific chemistry and biology platform has led to advancing multiple programs in the fields of autoimmune disease and oncology, with an exciting level of preclinical validation to date," said Sofinnova's Dr. Srinivas Akkaraju, who's joining the board. Release