Cerenis Therapeutics raises €40 million in third round financing

Funding

Cerenis Therapeutics SA (Cerenis), a specialist in the development of drugs based on the metabolism of so-called good cholesterol or high-density lipoprotein (HDL) for the treatment of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, has raised €40 million in the first close of its third round of private funding.

The round received strong backing from the public fund, fonds strategique d'investissement, (FSI) which put in €20 million, with the other  €20 million coming from existing investors, Sofinnova Partners, HealthCap, Alta Partners and TVM Capital, EDF Ventures, OrbiMed and DAIWA Corporate Investment.

The money will fund Phase II development of the lead Cerenis programme, CER-001, an HDL-mimetic for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. This round of financing brings the total capital raised to date by the Toulouse-based company to €107 million.

Jean-Louis Dasseux, co-founder and CEO of Cerenis, said, “We welcome the FSI as a new investor and are very pleased to have such strong support from our current investors.  This support recognises the progress made to date in the development of Cerenis in the field of HDL, the promise of the pipeline of products, and the quality of Cerenis’ team.”

Cerenis’ products are intended to reproduce the beneficial aspects of HDL in reversing the build-up of plaque in the vascular system. This is an advance of existing therapies which limit new cholesterol deposits or treat the symptoms of cardiovascular disease without the ability to significantly reduce existing plaque.

At the same time as announcing the fundraising, Cerenis announced that it had appointed Jean-Pierre Garnier, former CEO of GlaxoSmithKline as a Non-Executive Director and as FSI’s representative on the board.