Vedanta Biosciences, a Massachusetts-based clinical-stage company, has raised $106.5 million in funding. Along with current investors Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Skyviews Life Science, Reimagined Ventures, Fiscus Ventures, PEAK6, and Atlantic Neptune, the investor syndicate was co-led by new investors AXA IM Alts and The AMR Action Fund.
Along with existing investors such as co-founder PureTech Health, Revelation Partners, QUAD Investment Management, Seventure Partners, Hambro Perks, and Pfizer Inc., new investors K2 HealthVentures, Korea Investment Partners, Korea Investment & Securities Asia Ltd., and Korea Investment & Securities US, Inc. also took part.
Congratulations to new portfolio company @VedantaBio on a $106.5M financing to support their novel pipeline of rationally-defined microbiome therapeutics, including the Phase 3 development for their lead program. Read more: https://t.co/xwWlyXQl6V pic.twitter.com/d1V9ktaUGA
— K2 HealthVentures (@K2HVenture) April 25, 2023
The microbiome-focused business plans to utilize the cash, among other things, for the pivotal-stage development of its lead candidate, VE303, to treat ulcerative colitis and prevent recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI).
Vedanta Biosciences is creating a potentially new class of oral treatments based on established bacterial consortia. Defined bacterial consortia are made from cell banks and are products with standardized composition, eliminating the need to rely on donor feces with variable composition.
“We are grateful to have the support of our new and existing investors, who share our vision of pioneering microbiome therapeutics based on defined bacterial consortia to transform the lives of patients with serious diseases,” said Bernat Olle, Ph.D., Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vedanta Biosciences.
Vedanta Biosciences is leading the development of a potential new category of oral therapies
Proceeds will primarily fund a pivotal Phase 3 research of VE303 in recurrent CDI and a Phase 2 proof-of-concept study of VE202 in ulcerative colitis. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recently released good Phase 2 data for VE303 from Vedanta in patients with recurrent CDI.
In the United States, C. difficile is responsible for up to 165,000 recurrent infections and up to 45,000 yearly deaths, causing about 500,000 infections yearly.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) granted a $23.8 million contract option in response to the Phase 2 study’s encouraging findings, initially disclosed in October 2021, to support a Phase 3 clinical trial of VE303.
Under contract number 75A5012C00177, with a contract value of up to $81.9 million, the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (BARDA) provided federal funding for this project in part.
“Our Phase 2 clinical data and this new funding enable us to continue advancing the microbiome field beyond products made from fecal donations and towards pharmaceutical-grade, defined medicines,” said Bernat Olle.
