Bpifrance has joined a consortium of investors that already featured Inserm Transfer Initiative and that previously provided $35m in funding.
Therachon, a Switzerland-based biotech developer focused on rare genetic diseases, closed its series A round at $40m yesterday following a $5m extension that featured Bpifrance, the public investment bank of France.
In September 2015, Inserm Transfer Initiative, the investment arm of state-owned biomedical and public health research institute Inserm, participated in a first tranche of $35m. The initial close was led by Orbimed and also included New Enterprise Associates and Versant Ventures.
Therachon is working on therapies for rare genetic diseases for which currently no treatments exist. The company’s lead candidate, TA-46, is targeted at achondroplasia, a form of short-limbed dwarfism that affects approximately one in 25,000 children.
The company is based on research conducted by Elvire Gouze, a senior researcher at Inserm and University of Nice Sophia Antipolis.
The money will go towards advancing TA-46 and Therchon’s portfolio.
In addition to the funding news, Therarchon has also announced Luca Santarelli as its new chief executive. Chahra Louafi, senior investment director and head of the Biotherapies and Rare Diseases Fund at Bpifrance, has joined Therachon’s board of directors.
Luca Santarelli said: “I am excited to join Therachon and look forward to continuing to build a world-class pipeline and partnering with the achondroplasia community to develop a truly transformative therapeutic option.
“Our lead pipeline candidate TA-46 has demonstrated exceptional preclinical efficacy and holds the promise of fully restoring normal growth and mitigating some of the devastating complications in children suffering from achondroplasia.”
– This article first appeared on our sister site Global Government Venturing.
