Swiss start-up raises €11M in first round

Funding round completed

Lumavita AG, a start-up specialty biopharmaceutical company focusing on anti-infectives for women’s health raised €11 million in a first round funding led by Atlas Venture, BB Biotech Ventures, and BioMedInvest.

The company also announced the appointment of Nicholas Benedict, formerly  Head of Commercial Strategy and Operations at another Swiss specialty anti-infectives biotechnology company, Basilea Pharmaceutica, as CEO.

Lumavita, based in Basel, will focus on the development and commercialisation of treatments for infectious diseases in women’s health. The portfolio includes FemiFect (pentamycin) a broad spectrum antibiotic for the treatment of vaginitis, and SPK-601, a first-in-class antiviral treatment for infections caused by human papilloma virus (HPV) and herpes simplex virus.

FemiFect has approval in Switzerland and Lumavita expects to launch it soon. Meanwhile, SPK-601 is in Phase I.

SPK-601 is the first in a new class of antivirals discovered at the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg. While HPV can be prevented through vaccination, vaccines cannot help patients who are already infected with the virus. SPK-601 has a novel mechanism of action that blocks both viral DNA replication and viral gene expression. Lumavita says that unlike other anti-infectives has a low potential for inducing drug resistance.

Lumavita is based on the expertise of co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Cees Winnips, who has a significant background in development within the pharmaceutical industry in several therapeutic areas, including anti-infective drugs.