The company raised an initial $23.1 million in June 2016. The extension of the Series C supports Visterra’s focus on its two lead product candidates, VIS410 and VIS649, as well as further leveraging of its Hierotope platform, including ViStar™ antibody Fc engineering capabilities.
The Series C financing round included existing investors – the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, MRL Ventures Fund, Vertex Venture Holdings Ltd., Polaris Partners, Flagship Pioneering, Omega Funds, Cycad Group, Alexandria Venture Investments – and new investors, Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd., CTI Life Sciences and Allegheny Financial Group.
“We are grateful for the funding and support from high-quality new and existing investors, which recognizes the versatility and unique potential of our novel Hierotope platform and supports the advancement of Visterra’s product pipeline,” said Brian J. G. Pereira, M.D President and CEO of Visterra.
“We look forward to several key milestones over the next 18 months, including top-line results from our VIS410 Phase 2a clinical trial in ambulatory patients with influenza A in early 2018 and the initiation of our VIS410 Phase 2b clinical trial in hospitalized patients with influenza A in early 2018, as well as the initiation of clinical trials for both VIS649, our IgA nephropathy product candidate, and VIS513, our antibody for the treatment of dengue, currently being developed by our partner, the Serum Institute of India.”
Dr. Pereira also commented, “Our Hierotope platform has been very productive in generating a range of promising therapeutic antibodies beyond VIS410, VIS513 and VIS649. As we continue to apply and further enhance our Hierotope platform, including our novel ViStar antibody Fc engineering capabilities, we will consider collaborations with strategic partners relating to these capabilities and for select assets generated from our platform.”
A majority of the proceeds from the Series C financing have and will be used to prepare for a planned Phase 2b clinical trial for Visterra’s lead product candidate, VIS410, an antibody in development for the treatment of hospitalized patients with influenza A, regardless of the viral strain, and to advance VIS649, an antibody in development for the treatment of IgA nephropathy that has demonstrated promising results in animal models, to a Phase 1 clinical trial. In addition, a portion of the proceeds will be used to further develop the company’s ViStar antibody Fc engineering capabilities, which are focused on developing novel modifications to the Fc region of an antibody to enhance half-life and improve effector function.