NanoBio adds $11M venture haul to fuel late-stage drive

Ann Arbor, MI-based NanoBio has rounded up $11 million in venture cash, adding to its impressive haul of funding over the years.

The Series C brings its total funding for the company to an impressive $130 million, says the new CEO, David Peralta, who was promoted to the helm after former CEO James Baker was named head of Merck's ($MRK) global vaccine franchise last month. And this new money takes them one step closer to planned commercialization efforts on dermatological products, anti-infective treatments and intranasal & intramuscular vaccines derived from its NanoStat technology platform.

"The closing of this round demonstrates a strong commitment from our investors in support of our ongoing efforts to move several product candidates toward commercialization," said Peralta said. "Our topical therapeutic programs continue to show tremendous promise to enable new products that can effectively treat drug-resistant pathogens and avoid the concerning safety risks associated with oral therapies. In addition, recent studies with our vaccine technology highlight key advantages for developing new vaccines for widespread respiratory and sexually transmitted diseases. Our unique ability to elicit both systemic immunity and mucosal immunity at the sites where these viruses enter the body could prove essential in the development of vaccines for RSV, HSV2 and other diseases."

Back in the spring of 2011 NanoBio and partner GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) launched two Phase III studies of NB-001 as a topical treatment for cold sores. Those trials were supposed to wrap up this year. The biotech is a spinout of the Center for Biologic Nanotechnology at the University of Michigan and is also partnered with Merck, where it now has a very close contact indeed in its former CEO.

- here's the press release