PERTH, Australia – While the coronavirus captures the world’s attention, another global pandemic is quietly killing 100 million people under the age of 60, and Australian investors are putting up AU$53 million (US$34.58 million) to back late-stage projects at the George Institute for Global Health.
Privately held Silverback Therapeutics Inc. continued its drive toward the clinic with an oversubscribed series B financing of $78.5 million to support its lead candidate, an anti-HER2 antibody conjugated to a TLR8 agonist for treating moderate or high HER2-expressing solid tumors.
DUBLIN – Versant Ventures was one of a handful of investors to profit from Passage Bio Inc.’s recent upsized IPO. The Philadelphia-based gene therapy firm planned to raise $125 million initially but eventually hauled in $216 million by issuing 12 million shares, which it priced at $18 per share on Feb. 27. The IPO price valued Versant’s holding at $89 million. As well as participating in the IPO – the actual amount involved has not been disclosed – it invested $35 million across three private rounds, between September 2018 and August 2019, according to SEC filings.
LONDON – The Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust have joined forces with financial services specialist Mastercard in establishing a $125 million seed fund to accelerate development of drugs to treat COVID -19. The COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator aims to play a catalytic role by speeding up evaluation of new and repurposed drugs and biologics to treat the novel coronavirus in the near term, and other viral pathogens in the longer term
Tirat Carmel, Israel-based Insightec Ltd. has inked a deal for a series F financing of up to $150 million led by Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), a subsidiary of Koch Industries. The round, which has a post-money valuation of $1.3 billion, is earmarked for continued study of the company’s low-intensity, focused ultrasound technology in treating certain movement disorders.