NodThera raises $55m in Series B round to trial inflammatory disease drugs

The Anglo-US biotech NodThera has raised $55 million in a second financing round as it prepares its inflammatory diseases drugs for clinical trials. 

Based in Cambridge, UK and Boston and Seattle, NodThera is developing a new class of medicines to treat diseases driven by chronic inflammation, which inhibit the NLRP3 inflammasone. 

The company’s lead candidate, NT-0167 is being tested in a phase 1 clinical trial in healthy volunteers. 

Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance NT-0167 through clinical studies, further progress the development of additional compounds — including brain-penetrant NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors for central nervous system indications — and continued drug discovery efforts. 

The company was founded by Epidarex Capital. It has gone on to attract some big-name investors including Novo Ventures, and Sanofi Ventures. 

Cowen Healthcare Investments, F-Prime Capital, and Sofinnova Partners have also provided further financing. 

The first-in-human clinical study for NT-0167 is evaluating the candidate for safety and tolerability as well as pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic response.  

The biotech said that in preclinical studies, NT-0167 demonstrated potent and selective inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome resulting in reductions of IL-1beta and IL-18, pro-inflammatory cytokines which are known to play a key role in chronic inflammation underlying a wide range of diseases. 

Joining the NodThera Board as part of this Series B financing will be Nanna Lüneborg, Partner at Novo Ventures, Kevin Raidy, Managing Partner at Cowen Healthcare Investments and Alex Pasteur, Partner at F-Prime Capital. 

Henrijette Richter, Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners, said: “The NLRP3 inflammasome is one of the most exciting emerging areas of drug discovery. Therapeutics that disrupt the NLRP3 inflammasome to inhibit damaging inflammatory processes have the potential to help patients with many chronic diseases.” 

Adam Keeney, president and CEO of NodThera, said: “Continued advancement of our lead molecule through clinical development represents a significant achievement in our work to exploit the still untapped therapeutic potential of selectively targeting the NLRP3 inflammasome."