CAMBRIDGE: Vedanta Biosciences, a clinical-stage company developing a new category of therapies for immune-mediated diseases based on rationally-defined consortia of human microbiome-derived bacteria, has raised an additional $18.5 million as an extension of its Series C financing, bringing the total for the round to $45.5 million.[the_ad id=”32940″]The new investment comes from JSR Corporation, Shumway Capital, SymBiosis LLC, and Partners Investment Co., Ltd., who join previously disclosed investors the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Rock Springs Capital, Invesco Asset Management, Health for Life (Seventure Partners), and founder PureTech Health.
Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance Vedanta’s clinical portfolio including a Phase 1/2 study of VE416 in food allergy, a Phase 1b/2 study of VE800 and OPDIVO® (nivolumab) in advanced or metastatic cancers, and the ongoing Phase 2 study of VE303 in recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (rCDI). A Phase 1 clinical study of VE202 in healthy volunteers is being advanced with Janssen as part of an ongoing collaboration in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
“Our platform has the potential to address broad medical needs, including the treatment of drug resistant infection, food allergies, and other immune-mediated conditions where current approaches fall short,” said Bernat Olle, PhD, co-founder and chief executive officer of Vedanta Biosciences. “This financing will enable us to continue to advance defined bacterial consortia as a new modality, including generating clinical readouts in multiple therapeutic areas, and we are grateful to our new and existing investors for their support.”
Vedanta Biosciences is developing consortia of bacterial strains designed to effect robust and durable therapeutic changes in a patient’s gut microbiota. In contrast to faecal transplants or administration of faecal fractions, Vedanta Biosciences’ consortia are defined compositions of bacteria manufactured from pure, clonal cell banks, without the need to rely on direct sourcing of faecal donor material of inconsistent composition.