UM spinoff lands $36M venture deal

Several venture capital companies have joined hands to provide a $36 million Series A round to Lycera, a University of Michigan spinoff developing small molecule therapies for autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. That's the second-largest round ever raised by a Michigan biotech company.

InterWest Partners joined with Clarus Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners and EDF Ventures to provide the money to the start-up. Lycera gets $10 million of the round now and the rest in two tranches, depending on its ability to hit key development milestones.

Lycera also announced that it has expanded its development initiatives for small-molecule immunomodulators, adding a program targeting the Th17 pathway discovered by Dan Littman, M.D., Ph.D.

"Lycera combines two of the most exciting, new small-molecule approaches for treating autoimmune diseases," said Jeffrey Leiden, M.D., Ph.D., a managing director with Clarus. "The company will leverage the complementary expertise and discoveries of Dr. Glick in medicinal chemistry with those of Dr. Littman in immunology and the Th17 pathway. The Series A financing will enable Lycera to advance its first drug candidate through Phase II proof-of-concept studies and a second candidate into Phase I clinical trials."

- read the press release
- read the story from Crain's Detroit

Related Articles:
Synageva announces $30M round
Marinus lands $20M in second round
Top 20 biotech venture capital deals of 2008
Investors: biotech to rebound, outperform in '09
Burrill: Biotech achieves profitability as crisis bites