Beta Bionics takes step toward $25M financing round

Artificial pancreas startup Beta Bionics has secured the first slice of a planned $25 million financing round. The announcement of the round's first $2.5 million comes six months after midphase data positioned Beta Bionics to look forward to a pivotal trial of its diabetes device.

Beta Bionics snuck out details of the financing in a filing with the SEC, news of which was picked up by Drug Delivery Business News. In keeping with SEC filings, the disclosure is light on details. All that is known at this stage is that 11 investors have put up the first $2.5 million of a planned $25 million round. Beta Bionics is yet to identify the investors or detail its plans for the money.

Boston, Massachusetts-based Beta Bionics’ activities over the past 12 months hint at how it will spend the cash, though. In June, the startup and partner Zealand Pharma posted data from a phase 2a trial that tested the former’s iLet device with the latter’s glucagon analog dasiglucagon. That led to talk of a pivotal registration trial of the device.

Beta Bionics plans to use the device to deliver both insulin and dasiglucagon. That dual-hormone action, plus algorithms that optimize the dosing of both drugs, positions iLet to act as a pancreas for diabetics. But Beta Bionics will need to put it through bigger tests to convince regulators.

Pulling in $25 million would equip Beta Bionics to get the trial underway and represent a step up in the company’s financial firepower. The startup has funded itself to date with $5 million investments by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, plus the proceeds of a crowdfunding campaign.