Therachon AG, a Basel-based clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on rare diseases, today announced it has completed a $60 million mezzanine financing led by Novo Holdings.
The financing led by Novo Holdings was joined by new investors Cowen Healthcare Investments, Pfizer Ventures and funds managed by Tekla Capital Management LLC. Existing investors Versant Ventures, OrbiMed, Bpifrance and Inserm Transfert Initiative also participated.
Therachon plans to use the proceeds to advance the company’s lead pipeline candidate TA-46, a novel protein therapeutic for achondroplasia, the most common form of disproportionate short stature in humans, as well as to support the expansion of its rare disease pipeline. TA-46 is being developed as a weekly subcutaneous therapy for children and adolescents living with achondroplasia.
Therachon is currently conducting a Phase 1 randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of single and multiple increasing doses of TA-46 in healthy volunteers. Therachon has also recently started a natural history study called the ‘Dreambird study,’ that will prospectively assess the burden of complications of achondroplasia in approximately 200 children across multiple sites in Europe, Canada and the United States and will enable the start of treatment studies in children with achondroplasia in 2019.
In conjunction with this financing, Jørgen Søberg Petersen M.D., Ph.D., DMSc, MBA, venture partner at Novo Holdings, and Timothy Anderson, director, Cowen Healthcare Investments, have been appointed members of Therachon’s Board of Directors.
(Press release)
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