Antwerp — Mediar Thera­peu­tics (Cambridge, MA, USA), a company deve­lo­ping a port­fo­lio of first-in-class thera­pies for the treat­ment of fibro­sis, announ­ces $105 million in finan­cing, inclu­ding an $85 million Series A led by Novar­tis Venture Fund and Sofin­nova Part­ners. Also parti­ci­pa­ting in the finan­cing round are Gimv, as well as Pfizer Ventures, Mission BioCa­pi­tal, Pureos, Bris­­tol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Ono Venture Invest­ment and Mass Gene­ral Brig­ham Ventures.

Fibro­sis caused by inflamm­a­tion or injury results in abnor­mal forma­tion of scar tissue that can lead to organ fail­ure. Fort­u­na­tely, not all fibro­sis leads to organ fail­ure. To date, there is no cure for fibro­sis, and current thera­pies are subop­ti­mal. Mediar Thera­peu­tics was foun­ded on ground­brea­king fibro­sis rese­arch from Harvard Medi­cal School and Mass Gene­ral Brig­ham & Women’s Hospi­tal. Mediar is working on a pipe­line of unique factors that affect myofi­bro­blasts, the major cell type that drives fibro­sis progression.
The Series A finan­cing will enable Mediar Thera­peu­tics to acce­le­rate the deve­lo­p­ment of a port­fo­lio of first-in-class anti­body treat­ments that have unique poten­tial to treat fibro­sis at various stages of dise­ase. Two of the programs will enter human trials by 2024.

Dr. Andreas Jurgeit, Part­ner Life Scien­ces at Gimv, who has also joined the Board of Direc­tors of Mediar Thera­peu­tics, commen­ted, “Mediar is a unique combi­na­tion of science, talent and the ability to address a signi­fi­cant unmet medi­cal need. Fibro­sis is respon­si­ble for a signi­fi­cant percen­tage of deaths in the indus­tria­li­zed world, and to date there is no cure or appro­priate treat­ment. We are very plea­sed that Gimv is joining a strong consor­tium of leading global life science inves­tors to support Mediar Thera­peu­tics. We look forward to working closely with manage­ment, our indus­try part­ners and co-inves­­tors to achieve Mediar Thera­peu­tics’ mission.”

Chris­toph Kocher, Asso­ciate at Gimv, added, “Mediar’s vision of lever­aging myofi­bro­blast biology to address the large unmet need in pati­ents with fibro­tic dise­a­ses is fully aligned with the mission of Gimv’s life science plat­form: to build leading compa­nies that have a lasting impact on pati­ents and society.”