MiroBio signals for $33.1m

MiroBio, a UK-based immunotherapy developer exploiting University of Oxford research, formally launched yesterday with £27m ($33.1m) in series A funding co-led by the university’s venture fund, Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI).
Therapeutics-focused venture fund Samsara BioCapital co-led the round, investing alongside SR One, the corporate venturing unit for pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, and Advent Life Sciences.
Founded in October 2018, MiroBio is working on antibodies for multiple diseases which stimulate specific signals in immune cells in order to modulate the patient’s immune system.
The spinout is initially targeting auto-immune diseases where faulty immune cells sabotage healthy tissues, but could apply its platform to other indications with continued research.
MiroBio’s approach grew from research led by Simon Davis, professor of molecular immunology in the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, and Richard Cornall, a professor specialised in immunology in the Nuffield Department of Medicine.
The series A funding will facilitate work on MiroBio’s lead programs and discovery pipeline, while also augmenting its management personnel to prepare for the next stage of its growth strategy.
Andrew Mclean, principal of OSI, will join the board of directors, as will Deborah Harland, partner at SR One, Srini Akkaraju, managing general partner of Samsara BioCapital, and Shahzad Malik, general partner at Advent Life Sciences.
Eliot Charles, a venture partner at SR One who also acts as executive chairman of MiroBio, said: “MiroBio has a robust technology and the ambition to bring new medicines to patients in need of improved therapies.
“To help realise this goal, we have assembled a strong syndicate of leading healthcare investors who have a solid track record of creating successful biotech companies and backing world-leading teams like the one we have started to build.”