IniPharm Closes on $35 Million Series A to Fund NASH Drug Development
Summary
5AM Ventures and Wu Capital joined existing investors Frazier Healthcare Partners and Jubilant Biosys Limited. The company plans to use the funds to advance its lead program through Investigational New Drug (IND) filing and into clinical trials. “The IniPharm team, along with CRO partner Jubilant Biosys, has made excellent early progress in modulating this target with small molecules, and we are thrilled to support the company to accelerate their efforts towards the clinic.” IniPharm’s executive team includes Farmer, co-founder and chief executive officer, who is also entrepreneur-in-residence at Frazier Healthcare. “The potential for therapies that effectively target HSD17B13 activity is significant because it is linked to a broad spectrum of liver and related diseases.” Although Inipharm hasn’t given a specific timeline, Farmer did suggest that 2021 was going to be an important year for the company. Farmer believes that there may be reasons to have the protein present and that the biggest NASH concerns come later in the disease, with fibrosis (scarring) and the progression to cirrhosis.