US-based biotechnology developer Nohla Therapeutics closed a $43.5m series A round on Tuesday led by new investor Arch Venture Partners, a spinoff from Chicago University’s tech transfer office.
Life sciences-focused venture capital firm 5AM Ventures took part in the round alongside existing backer the Jagen Group, an investment firm controlled by Australia’s Liberman family.
Nohla Therapeutics is a developer of universal donor cellular therapies used to treat patients with life threatening blood disorders, and to facilitate stem cell recovery in patients after intensive chemotherapy or radiation treatment.
Dr.Colleen Delaney, chief medical officer at Nohla, founded the company as a spinout of nonprofit cancer research institute Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, also known as Fred Hutch, in September 2015. Nohla is now developing cellular therapies that grew out of more than 20 years of research at Fred Hutch.
At present, the only proven cure for many blood cell and bone marrow malignancies require transplants of hematopoietic stem cells, the source of all other blood cells in the body.
Nohla’s technology allows clinicians to harvest stem cells and progenitor cells – early descendants of stem cells – from umbilical cord blood, grow and differentiate them outside the body, and preserve them until needed.
Whereas rival therapies require stem cells harvested from donors with the same type of human leukocyte antigen (HLA), a type of cellular protein, as the patient, Nohla’s therapies are “universal donor”, meaning no HLA match is needed.
The company says more than 100 patients have been treated across multiple clinical studies using its technology.
The fresh capital Nohla raised will support its two main programs, dubbed NLA-101 and NLA-102.
Both are clinical studies to test the use of Nohla’s cell products, one involving umbilical cord blood transplant and the other involving high-dose chemotherapy for patients with acute myelogenous leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.
Since it was founded Nohla has amassed a total of $64.6m in funding, having secured $21m from unnamed investors in its first round in December 2015. Following the fundraising, Lawrence Gozlan, founder and chief investment officer of life sciences-focused investment firm Scientia Capital, joined Nohla’s board of directors.
In conjunction with the fundraising on Tuesday, Steven Gillis, a managing director at Arch Venture Partners, and Brian Daniels, a venture partner at 5AM Ventures, will join Nohla’s board of directors as Chairman and Director respectively.
