Pfizer Venture Investments and Lundbeckfond Ventures have contributed to a fundraise that will support the orphan-drug accelerator's activities through 2021.

US-based orphan-drug accelerator Cydan closed a $34m round yesterday featuring Pfizer Venture Investments and Lundbeckfond Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiaries of pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Lundbeck.

Venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA) led the round, which included Alexandria Venture Investments, the strategic investment arm of life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, as well as Longitude Capital.

Founded in 2013, Cydan identifies promising treatments for rare, monogenic diseases and develops them using a de-risking process, before spinning…