Switzerland's Delenex Therapeutics has beefed up its Series A venture round, bringing the total to close to $35 million as it prepares to dive into clinical studies of its antibodies for inflammatory conditions. The fledgling developer says it now has enough cash in the bank to generate clinical proof-of-concept data for a lead program aimed at dermatology.
Over the past year the Series A rounds have swelled for a number of start-up biotechs, reflecting a growing belief that biotechs which earn the cash should have enough money in the bank to get to the POC stage without having to go back out in search of investment capital.
Novo Ventures stepped in to lead the Series A extension, which brought in about $19 million. SV Life Sciences, HBM BioCapital, HBM BioVentures, BioMedInvest and VI Partners all contributed as well.
"The willingness of Novo Ventures, as well as the existing investor syndicate, to fund this company through its planned clinical proof-of-concept studies, is a strong testimony as to how far we have built Delenex since the spinoff from ESBATech in September 2009," said Chairman Thomas Hecht, MD. "We are delighted to welcome Thomas Dyrberg to our Board. His personal track record as an investor, and that of Novo Ventures, further strengthen our commitment to advance novel medicines to clinical proof of concept."
- here's the Delenex release