Amsterdam-based NorthSea Therapeutics (NST), a clinical-stage biotech company developing first-in class, oral, structurally-engineered lipid therapeutics, announced that it has raised $80M (approx €70.84M) in its Series C round of funding.
Rob de Ree, NST’s CEO, says, “We are delighted to close this Series C financing, further building our strong investor syndicate with new premium funds, and with the continued support of existing investors. The fundraise will support us in taking the next steps across our clinical development pipeline, enabling NST to grow into a multi-asset company in clinical and late-clinical stage.”
Investors in this round
The round was co-led by Ysios Capital and Forbion Growth. New investors including a large managed care organisation and Hercules Capital, and existing investors Forbion Ventures, venBio, Novo Seeds, Sofinnova, BGV, and New Science Ventures also participated in the round.
With this investment, Jordi Xiol, Principal at Ysios Capital and Dirk Kersten, General Partner at Forbion Growth, will join NST’s board of directors.
Jordi Xiol says, “The widespread medical need presented by non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) remains largely unmet and we believe that a successful treatment will have to address patients’ conditions as a whole. Icosabutate is a safe, oral molecule, which has shown strong anti-inflammatory properties for the liver, while also improving metabolic disorder. We are enthusiastic to support NST’s strong team in the development of a pipeline centred around the production of SEFAs.”
Capital utilisation
The proceeds from this round will be used to advance the development of NorthSea Therapeutics’ pipeline of Structural Engineered Fatty Acids (SEFA) clinical-stage programs in NASH and other metabolic disorders.
The company is currently working on three clinical-stage programs:
- Icosabutate: NST’s lead product, which recently completed enrolment of its phase 2b ICONA study in NASH and reported strong interim results. Interim results showed reduction of biomarkers in liver injury, inflammation, and fibrosis in biopsy-confirmed NASH patients. In addition, treatment with Icosabutate showed a favourable safety and tolerability profile and additional improvements in atherogenic lipids and glycemic control. Preparations for entering phase 3 will begin next year, in anticipation of top-line results in Q1-2023
- SEFA-1024: NST’s second SEFA programme, is in development for dyslipidemia. The phase 1 study is ongoing and is expected to be advanced to phase 2 in Q1-2023
- SEFA-6179: Enters phase 1 trials this month for the orphan indication Intestinal Failure Associated Liver Disease (IFALD). Funding is already secured for a phase 2 study scheduled to start by Q1-2023
What does NorthSea Therapeutics offer?
The company was founded in 2017 by David A. Fraser, Hilde H. Steineger, Patrick Round, Rob de Ree, and Tore Skjæret. It is a Dutch biotech company focused on developing structurally engineered fatty acids (‘SEFAs’) for the treatment of NASH and other metabolic disorders.
NorthSea Therapeutics has licensed the rights to its lead compound icosabutate and a library of SEFAs from Pronova BioPharma Norge AS.
Icosabutate has been found safe and effective in two prior phase 2 clinical studies for treatment of hypertriglyceridemia and mixed dyslipidemia, and is currently in clinical development for NASH. The icosabutate phase 2b ICONA NASH trial is scheduled to readout in the first quarter of 2023.
Two additional SEFAs are in clinical development – SEFA-1024 is in phase 1 to be developed for dyslipidemia, and SEFA-6179, which entered phase 1 this month, is being developed for the orphan indication IFALD, (Intestinal Failure Associated Liver Disease).
Headquartered in Amsterdam, NST also has a presence in Norway and the US and is supported by investors including Ysios Capital, Forbion Growth, Hercules Capital, Forbion Ventures, Novo Seeds, BGV, NSV, venBio Partners, and Sofinnova investments.
