US-based biopharmaceutical company Celladon closed a $43 equity round on Wednesday led by Pfizer Ventures, the corporate venturing fund for pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer. Two other corporate venturing funds for pharma companies – Novartis Venture Funds, and Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation – also participated in the round, as did life science venture funds Hambrecht & Quist Healthcare/Life Sciences Investors and Lundbeckfond Ventures, and venture capital firms Venrock, Enterprise Partners and GBS Venture Partners. The cash will be used to advance Celladon’s lead product, an enzyme replacement therapy for heart failure known as MYDICAR, which has been granted Fast Track status by the US Food and Drug Administration.  Celladon has now raised about $99m in equity funding since its inception, together with about $7.3m in debt financing between 2009 and 2011. Additional investors include venture capital firms Enterprise Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Domain Associates. Celladon has also juggled its board of directors in conjunction with the funding, with Barbara Dalton of Pfizer Ventures to chair the board. Also joining the board are Lauren Silverman of Novartis Venture Funds, Johan Kördel of Lundbeckfond Ventures, Daniel Omstead of Hambrecht & Quist Capital Management, and Josh Funder of GBS Venture Partners. Dalton said: "MYDICAR has demonstrated clinical benefit in human clinical trials and we believe that it has the potential to be a much needed new treatment option for patients with advanced heart failure. Pfizer Venture Investments is very pleased to support Celladon’s efforts to improve the lives of heart failure patients with our investment in the company."

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