- Roche Venture Fund joins existing major investors Epidarex Capital, Sofinnova Partners and BioGeneration Ventures
Glasgow, Scotland – Mironid, a biopharmaceutical company developing small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD), a life-threatening hereditary kidney disease, today announces an extension of its Series A financing round, with the total amount raised by the Company since inception now £35 million. New investor Roche Venture Fund has joined existing investors Epidarex Capital, Sofinnova Partners, BioGeneration Ventures, the University of Strathclyde, Scottish Enterprise and the European Investment Fund. The Company will use the proceeds to progress its lead discovery programme through IND-enabling studies and to extend its patent estate.
“With this financing and an outstanding syndicate of investors, we will continue to advance our novel drug candidates towards the clinic with the goal of developing a disease-modifying therapy for patients with ADPKD,” said Neil Wilkie, CEO of Mironid. “The financing validates our drug development strategy enabling us to transition from discovery to development of powerful new medicines for a chronically debilitating disease with presently limited treatment options.”
David Evans from Roche Venture Fund said: “We were very pleased to participate in this funding round. We were impressed by the foundational science and the team at Mironid and believe the Company’s small molecules have meaningful potential to improve the lives of patients with ADPKD. We are looking forward to working with the management team as the lead programme moves through IND-enabling studies and towards clinical development.”
ADPKD is one of the more prevalent rare diseases and the most common hereditary kidney disorder. It affects over 12 million people worldwide, with 50% of patients developing kidney failure by the age of 60. The disease is caused predominantly by mutations in the PKD1 or PKD2 gene and is characterized by uncontrolled growth of fluid-filled cysts in the kidney.
Mironid’s first-in-class LoAc® small molecules represent the only drug class directly targeting the cellular signal, cyclic AMP (cAMP), which is active in all stages of the disease process from initiation through to end-stage, stimulating both cell proliferation and fluid secretion. Robust in vitro and disease model data show significant efficacy across all disease endpoints, including a reduction in cyst number and kidney volume. The ability of cAMP modulators to prevent new cyst formation and arrest the growth of existing cysts is indicative of the potential to deliver clinical benefit to all ADPKD patients. Moreover, this drug class could offer an improved side-effect profile, most importantly in reduced polyuria, which is a significant cause of poor compliance with current therapies.
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Enquiries:
Mironid
Neil Wilkie, Chief Executive Officer
Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott / Sukaina Virji / Lindsey Neville
About Mironid
Mironid is a biopharmaceutical company developing small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of life-threatening hereditary kidney disease. Its lead programme is for Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD), which is characterized by uncontrolled growth of fluid-filled cysts and is the most common hereditary kidney disorder, but has limited treatment options. Mironid’s first-in-class small molecule LoAc® drug candidates directly target the abnormally high kidney cAMP levels that drive cyst formation. The Company is led by an industry-experienced management team and supported by a strong advisory network and blue-chip investors including Roche Venture Fund, Epidarex Capital, Sofinnova Partners and BioGeneration Ventures. The University of Strathclyde, Scottish Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund (EIF) are also investors in Mironid.
About Roche Venture Fund
The Roche Venture Fund is the corporate venture fund of Roche and invests in innovative life science companies. Over the past 20 years, the Roche Venture Fund has invested in over 60 companies globally and currently has a portfolio of around 30 companies located in 10 countries. As part of a multinational healthcare company, the Roche Venture Fund has access to considerable expertise both internally and externally and co-invests with leading venture funds, including other corporate venture funds, on a regular basis.
https://www.roche.com/venturefund/
About Epidarex Capital
Epidarex Capital is a transatlantic venture capital firm with a track record of building exceptional life science companies in emerging hubs in the US and UK. Epidarex’ experienced team of early-stage investors partner with entrepreneurs and leading research institutions to transform world-class science into highly innovative products addressing major unmet needs in the global healthcare market. www.epidarex.com
About Sofinnova Partners
Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm in life sciences, specializing in healthcare and sustainability. Based in Paris, London and Milan, the firm brings together a team of professionals from all over the world with strong scientific, medical, and business expertise. Sofinnova Partners is a hands-on company builder across the entire value chain of life sciences investments, from seed to later-stage. The firm actively partners with ambitious entrepreneurs as a lead or cornerstone investor to develop transformative innovations that have the potential to positively impact our collective future.
Founded in 1972, Sofinnova Partners is a deeply established venture capital firm in Europe, with 50 years of experience backing over 500 companies and creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over €2.5 billion under management. For more information, please visit: sofinnovapartners.com
About BioGeneration Ventures
BioGeneration Ventures (BGV) is a venture capital company, with a focus on early-stage European biotech companies. With a strong track record of significant financial returns through its investments in healthcare innovations and providing the expertise to build world-class companies, BGV manages over EUR 250 million of funds and invests in areas where true scientific innovations, unmet medical needs, and the potential to demonstrate a significant proof of concept all converge. BGV strives to work with founding teams to progress science and build successful companies and uses its experience to guide progress into clinical trials, leading to successful drug development and value realization for its investors. BGV applies its expertise in a rigorous process to select the most compelling opportunities with the best prospects for exit. BGV operates a joint-venture with Forbion as the early stage strategy of the Forbion platform, focusing on company creation and seed/Series A investments. The Company is based in Naarden, The Netherlands. For more information, please visit: http://www.biogenerationventures.com.
About Scottish Enterprise
Scottish Enterprise (SE) is Scotland’s national economic development agency and a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It supports businesses to innovate and scale to transform the Scottish economy by focusing on new market opportunities through targeted investment, innovation and internationalisation. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.