Zielbio Inc., of Charlottesville, Va., closed on a $25.1 million series A financing to further its lead candidate, ZB-131, a humanized monoclonal antibody against cell surface plectin, which is expressed on the plasma membrane of ovarian, pancreatic, lung and colorectal cancer cells.

HONG KONG – South Korean biopharmaceutical giant Celltrion Group, of Incheon, and Korea Development Bank (KDB), a wholly state-owned policy development bank, have agreed to run a fund worth KRW220 billion (US$184 million) to grow venture companies in Korea's bio-health care sector.

DUBLIN – Amryt Pharma plc raised $60 million in new equity financing to complete its all-stock takeover of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals Inc., creating a global rare diseases company with three marketed products, a U.S. commercial infrastructure and a couple of near-term opportunities to expand its portfolio.

LONDON – Tacalyx GmbH has raised €7 million (US$7.7 million) in seed funding to initiate research on a new generation of antibodies targeted at tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs) expressed on a wide variety of tumor cells.

HONG KONG – South Korean biotech venture Spark Biopharma Inc., based in Seoul, has secured KRW25 billion (US$21 million) in series B funding to support new R&D efforts. The company plans to accelerate its development of small-molecule compound-based immuno-oncology therapeutics and treatments for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

DUBLIN – Versantis AG raised CHF16 million (US$16.1 million) in a series B round to progress clinical trials of a liposomal-based fluid in development for eliminating ammonia and other toxic metabolites from the circulation of patients in acute stages of liver failure who are undergoing peritoneal dialysis.