The money will be drawn down in two tranches over the next two years to fund phase three development of Circassia's cat and ragweed allergy therapies.

Circassia, a UK-based specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on allergy treatments, has raised £60m ($98m) in the second largest fundraising by a privately-held European biopharmaceutical company this year.

The money will be drawn down in two tranches over the next two years to fund phase three development of Circassia’s cat and ragweed allergy therapies.

Imperial Innovations, a university investment unit, led the consortium, which included mutual fund manager Invesco Perpetual.

Susan Searle, chief executive of Imperial Innovations, said: "We…