September 23, 2019 (Cambridge, Massachusetts) ─ Vedanta Biosciences, a clinical-stage company developing a new category of therapies for immune-mediated diseases based on rationally-defined consortia of human microbiome-derived bacteria, today announced a $16.6 million Series C-2 financing round, bringing the total capital raised in its Series C and C-2 round to $62.1 million. China eCapital Partners, the US affiliate of CEC Capital Group, a leading Asia-based investment bank, advised Vedanta Biosciences on the transaction.
Vedanta Biosciences is a clinical-stage biotech company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Vedanta is focused on developing a new category of therapies for immune-mediated diseases based on rationally-defined consortia of human microbiome-derived bacteria. Today, Vedanta announced the completion of its C-2 round of financing, bringing the total capital raised in its Series C and C-2 round to $62.1 million. C-2 Round investors include QUAD Investment Management, SV Investment Corp., Shinhan Investment-Private, Shinhan Investment Private Equity, Shinhan Capital Yeollim Partners, Partners Investment Co., FC Capital, and SymBiosis LLC. C-Round investors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Rock Springs Capital, JSR Corporation, Shumway Capital, Invesco Asset Management, Health for Life (Seventure Partners), and PureTech Health.
Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance Vedanta’s clinical portfolio including a phase I/II study of VE416 used to treat food allergies, a phase Ib/II study of VE800 and OPDIVO® (nivolumab) used to treat advanced or metastatic cancers, and the ongoing phase II study of VE303 used to treat recurrent Clostridium difficile (rCDI).
“This financing will enable us to continue to advance defined bacterial consortia as a new modality,” said Bernat Olle, Ph.D., Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vedanta Biosciences. “We are grateful to our new and existing investors for their support.”
Vedanta Biosciences is developing drug candidates based on consortia of natural non-pathogenic bacterial strains designed to effect robust and durable changes in a patient’s gut microbiome. In contrast to fecal transplants or the administration of fecal fractions, Vedanta Biosciences’ consortia are defined compositions of bacteria manufactured from pure, clonal cell banks, bypassing the need to rely on the direct sourcing of fecal donor material of inconsistent composition.
About Vedanta Biosciences
Vedanta Biosciences is a leader within the field of clinical-stage gastrointestinal microbiome treatments. Using rationally-defined consortia of bacteria, Vedanta is developing new therapies to treat infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, allergies, and immuno-oncology. Vedanta Biosciences has a number of proprietary capabilities including what is believed to be the largest collection of human-gut associated bacteria, assays and bioinformatics techniques for consortia design and optimization, and facilities for cGMP-compliant manufacturing of rationally defined bacterial consortia.
Vedanta Biosciences’ pioneering work, in collaboration with its scientific co-founders, has led to the identification of human commensal bacteria that induce a range of immune responses—including induction of regulatory T cells, CD8+ T cells, and Th17 cells, among others. These advances have been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Science (multiple), Nature (2013-2019), Cell, and Nature Immunology. Vedanta Biosciences has harnessed these biological insights to generate a pipeline of investigational live biotherapeutic products (LBPs) for infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, allergies, and immuno-oncology. This pipeline includes three clinical-stage product candidates currently being evaluated for the treatment of recurrent Clostridium difficile and inflammatory bowel disease (in collaboration with Janssen Biotech, Inc.), and food allergies, as well as a fourth product candidate for patients with advanced or metastatic cancers (in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s checkpoint inhibitor OPDIVO®) expected to enter clinical stage testing in 2019.
Vedanta’s IP portfolio contains over 30 issued patents with coverage extending to 2037. Vedanta Biosciences was founded by PureTech Health (LSE: PRTC). Its scientific co-founders are world-renowned experts in immunology and microbiology who have pioneered the fields of innate immunity, Th17, and regulatory T cell biology.
About China eCapital Partners, LLC
China eCapital Partners, LLC (CEC Capital) is the US affiliate of CEC Capital Group and has offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. CEC Capital provides M&A and private placement advisory services to clients in the TMT, consumer and healthcare sectors. As the US affiliate of CEC Capital Group, CEC Capital facilitates cross-border transactions involving the Asia-Pacific markets, including Greater China, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia.
For more information, please visit www.ceccapitalus.com.
About CEC Capital Group
Founded in 2000, CEC Capital Group (formerly known as China eCapital Corporation) is a leading private investment bank in China with a core focus on the TMT, consumer and healthcare sectors. Headquartered in Beijing with offices in Shanghai, the Company provides M&A, private placement, and asset management services to its clients both in and outside of China. To ensure that clients receive the most comprehensive buy-side coverage, its ECM team has established close contact with over 3,000 institutional investors in China, ranging from large conglomerates and A-share listed companies to established financial institutions, and asset management firms.
For more information, please visit www.ceccapitalgroup.com.
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