Exosome therapeutics company Evox Therapeutics said today that it raised $45.4 million (GBP £35.5 million) in a Series B round of financing.
The funding round was led by Redmile Group, new investments from GV, formerly known as Google Ventures, and Cowen Healthcare Investments, the Oxford, U.K.-based company said. The round was joined by Panacea Healthcare Venture, Borealis Ventures and existing investors Oxford Sciences Innovation and Oxford University.
Evox said it is using exosomes to allow certain drugs to reach “previously inaccessible tissues and compartments,” including crossing the blood brain barrier, intracellular delivery of biologics and extra-hepatic delivery of RNA therapeutics.
“We believe exosomes represent an important emerging therapeutic approach with potentially broad applicability, and we are enthusiastic to partner with the Evox team,” Redmile Group founder & portfolio manager Jeremy Green said in a prepared statement.
Proceeds from the round will go towards supporting the company’s exosome-based therapeutics pipeline, including several rare disease assets moving towards the clinic and the continued development of its exosome drug platform.
“We are very pleased for the support of both our existing and new investors who participated in this Series B financing. Over the past several years we have continued to expand the reach of our exosome platform, translating that knowledge into impactful therapeutics for our internal pipeline and for partners. We have also vigorously expanded our robust intellectual property portfolio, built our internal R&D teams, and put in place advisory boards who are offering deep insights as we advance key programmes towards clinical development. We are excited by the inherent transformational potential of our exosome technology, which significantly improves and enables the delivery of a wide range of therapeutic molecules, including antibodies, proteins, nucleic acids, and small molecules. This additional funding will enable us to advance our pipeline of novel exosome-based therapeutics towards the clinic and allow continued expansion of our world-leading exosome platform,” CEO Dr. Antonin de Fougerolles said in a press release.
