NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals, a US-based developer of medication for neurodegenerative diseases backed by Shire and Mérieux, has closed a $17m series D round and will use the funds to advance clinical tests of its lead candidate, NPT088.

Ireland-based biopharmaceutical company Shire and Mérieux Développement, the healthcare investment unit of France-based bioresearch corporation Institut Mérieux, participated in the round, along with undisclosed new investors.

Shire and Mérieux have funded Neurophage since its $21.4m series B round in 2011, though Nanga Investments and…