After raising $20 million in a series B round in December 2022, Aravax Pty Ltd. has raised another $22 million to close out its series B round with $42 million that expands the syndicate with new investors Novartis Venture Fund, Breakthrough Victoria, Uniseed, Unisuper, and Agati Capital. The funds will take the company’s peanut allergy immunotherapy, PVX-108, through phase II trials.
Biopharmas raising money in public or private financings, including: Alto, Ascendis, Checkpoint, Eyconis, Panbela, Redhill, Renovorx, Sirona, Skye and Vera.
Oncology company Arrivent Biopharma Inc.’s stock (NASDAQ:AVBP) shot up 11% on Jan. 26, its first day of trading, with its upsized IPO pricing 9.72 million shares at $18 each, raising gross proceeds of $175 million.
Accent Therapeutics Inc. has completed a $75 million series C financing to support progression of its lead programs through early clinical development.
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CF Foundation) has agreed to provide Prime Medicine Inc. with up to $15 million to support the development of prime editors for the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF).
Despite a barely open IPO window in 2023, 27 biopharma firms went public in the year. It’s the lowest number since 2012 recorded 11 IPOs in the sector. However, encouraging news is that, overall, the U.S. IPO class of 2023 is up an average of 7.48%.
Be it viral, nucleic acid or protein vaccines, recent efforts that led to the first regulatory approvals for not only COVID-19, but also for malaria and respiratory syncytial virus, positioned infectious diseases in the headlines for much of the last four years. But despite that attention, or the threat of future pandemics, or the numerous infectious diseases for which there are no preventable vaccines and very little development activity, the level of private and public funding for biopharma companies working in the space is dismal – at least compared with that of oncology products, according to a new analysis report released by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) on Jan. 25.