The company will use the funding to advance its portfolio which comprises three novel antibody treatments that are readily detectible in blood and correlate to disease severity and enable a de-risked approach to clinical development
Mediar has a portfolio of fibrosis therapies. (Credit: Robina Weermeijer on Unsplash)
Mediar Therapeutics has secured $85m in a Series A round co-led by Novartis Venture Fund and Sofinnova Partners, which brings the company’s total financing to $105m.
Pfizer Ventures, Mission BioCapital, Gimv, Pureos, Bristol Myers Squibb, Lilly, Ono Venture Investment and Mass General Brigham Ventures also participated in the funding round.
Mediar is a US-based biotechnology company, established based on a deep understanding of the complex science behind the onset and progression of fibrosis.
The company is led by chief executive officer Rahul Ballal and chief scientific officer Paul Yaworsky.
As part of the financing, Nandita Shangari from Novartis Venture Fund, Maina Bhaman from Sofinnova Partners, and Andreas Jurgeit from Gimv will join the Mediar board.
Rahul Ballal said: “We are applying a precision approach to our fibrosis programs to improve the odds of success in human proof-of-concept studies and identify the right patients for each therapy.
“The support of this broad syndicate of investors enables us to leverage our deep insights into fibrosis pathology and drive meaningful clinical impact in the treatment landscape.”
Paul Yaworsky said: “We are particularly excited about our lead WISP-1 program, which is near candidate selection and has advanced largely through investigations in primary human preclinical systems.
“We are also progressing promising leads from our two other first-in-class portfolio programs into preclinical in-vivo proof-of-concept studies.”
According to the company, Fibrosis is one of the most complicated chronic pathologies, due to the complex network of interconnected biological pathways.
Current therapeutic approaches primarily focus on the initiators of fibrosis that modulate the underlying immune responses known to drive disease onset.
Mediar said that its new approach to fibrosis treatment is focused on fibrotic mediators that drive the disease progression, potentially eliminating the limitations of current approaches.
Its portfolio comprises three novel targets that are readily detectible in blood and correlate to disease severity, and enable a de-risked approach to clinical development.
The company will use the funding to advance its portfolio of antibody treatments that target fibrosis at different stages, with two programmes planned to enter human studies in 2024.
Sofinnova Partners partner Maina Bhaman said: “Mediar brings deep research insights and a robust understanding of the fibrotic disease.
“These strengths, coupled with a focus on pursuing unexplored pathways that drive fibrosis progression, position the company to change the way the disease is addressed and potentially achieve meaningful therapeutic impact.”