Princeton, NJ-based Sopherion Therapeutics has rounded up $55 million in a Series C led by Zoticon Bioventures. Sopherion plans to use the money to complete the pivotal Phase III clinical development program for its lead product candidate, Myocet, a liposomal formulation of doxorubicin designed to reduce the risk of cardiotoxicity while preserving antitumor efficacy.
Zoticon Bioventures in-licensed Myocet in January, 2008 and provided funding of $20 million to Sopherion and subsequently led an additional $35 million round during 2008.
"This funding is an important milestone for Sopherion and represents continued validation for Myocet, which we believe has the potential to become the standard of care for patients with advanced breast cancer when used in combination with trastuzumab and paclitaxel," said Ronald H. Goldfarb, Ph.D.,president and CEO of Sopherion Therapeutics.
And over at FierceVaccines this morning we reported on the $23 million Series A put together for Genocea Biosciences, one of our Fierce 15 companies last year. Genocea also announced that it had recruited Staph Leavenworth Bakali--an experienced executive with a track record for grooming companies later bought out by GlaxoSmithKline--as its new CEO.
- read the Sopherion release
- and check out the report on Genocea
ALSO: Michigan's NanoBio has acquired $12 million in a series B round led by Perseus. The funds will be used to complete preclinical studies for a nebulized therapy for cystic fibrosis, a Phase I study for an intranasal seasonal influenza vaccine and a Phase I study for a topical treatment for acne. NanoBio release