Glycomine glides to $68m series B round

US-based replacement therapy developer Glycomine completed a $68m series B round yesterday, securing $35m from a pool of investors including Mission Bay Capital, the venture capital arm of California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3).
Sanofi Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of pharmaceutical firm Sanofi, co-led the round with venture capital firm Abingworth. It included pharmaceutical companies Novo, Asahi Kasei and Chiesi Group, the latter two through Asahi Kasei Pharma Ventures and Chiesi Ventures.
The round also featured life science investment firm Sanderling Ventures and life science-focused VC firms RiverVest Venture Partners and Remiges Ventures. QB3 is a research and commercialisation institute representing University of California campuses UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco and UC Santa Cruz.
Glycomine is working on treatments for congenital diseases of glycosylation (CDG), a group of rare genetic, metabolic disorders caused by carbohydrate chains being added to proteins and lipids. It will use the capital to advance its lead drug candidate, GLM101, through initial clinical trials in patients.
GLM101 is a novel substrate replacement therapy aimed at treating a condition called PMM2-CDG, the symptoms of which include liver disease, immune and nervous system disorders and episodes resembling strokes.
Jim Trenkle, Sanofi Ventures’ US head of investments, will join Glycomine’s board of directors in connection with the financing, along with Abingworth managing partner Bali Muralidhar and RiverVest managing director Niall O’Donnell.
The company had raised $33m in series B funding in August 2019 from Mission Bay, Novo – which led the round – Asahi Kasei, Chiesi Ventures and Sanderling Ventures.
Glycomine had previously secured $12m in a 2016 series A round led by Sanderling Ventures and backed by Chiesi Ventures, following an initial $1m in seed capital from undisclosed investors.