Pulmocide inhales $30m series B

Pulmocide, a biotechnology spinout of Imperial College London, yesterday raised £25m ($30m) in series B funding from a consortium of investors including Touchstone Innovations, the commercialisation firm spun out of Imperial.

Touchstone provided £3m to the round, which was further backed by SR One and Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, the respective corporate venturing subsidiaries for pharmaceutical firms GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson.

F-Prime Capital, a VC vehicle owned by financial services conglomerate FMR, Longwood Fund and SV Life Sciences also participated in the transaction.

Pulmocide is working on small-molecule inhaled therapies for life threatening respiratory conditions that are caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common condition that usually results in cold-like symptoms but can be more serious in older children and adults, and a mould known as Aspergillus that causes conditions such as fungal asthma.

The series B capital will allow Pulmocide to advance its candidates through early clinical development, including one antiviral agent for RSV and one treatment for pulmonary Aspergillosis.

Touchstone Innovations (then known as Imperial Innovations) previously invested in Pulmocide’s £17m series A round in 2013, which also included Johnson & Johnson, F-Prime Capital (then known as Fidelity Biosciences) and SV Life Sciences.

Maina Bhaman, director of healthcare ventures at Touchstone Innovations, said: “We continue to support this strong entrepreneurial management team to progress the company’s two novel compounds through early clinical development; another step closer to a treatment for patients with life-threating lung infections.

“Pulmocide is yet another example of a portfolio company that has been able to attract a powerful group of investors and we would like to welcome SR One and Longwood to the syndicate.”

Touchstone Innovations now holds an 18.5% stake in Pulmocide, down from 24.1% before the series B round.