NEW YORK – Neurophth Therapeutics on Friday said it has raised nearly $95 million in a Series C+ financing, which it will use to develop gene therapies for ophthalmic diseases.
The funding round was co-led by Yangtze River-CMB International Industry Fund, Wuhan Optical Valley Financial Holding Group, Wuhan Hi-Tech Holding Group, Hubei KTLC, and Guangzhou Jinkong Fund. Other investment firms including CMG-SDIC Capital, Silicon Paradise Asset Management, and Yangtze River Industry Fund also participated in the round.
"Since the beginning of this year, we've made substantial progress in the clinical trials of our products," Neurophth CEO and Chairman Bin Li said in a statement, adding that the funds raised through this latest financing will enable the Wuhan, China-based firm to further expedite clinical trials of its core pipeline products and bolster its R&D capabilities.
Neurophth's leading gene therapy candidate, NR082, is being tested in a fully enrolled Phase III trial in China for the treatment of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) due to mitochondrial ND4 mutations. LHON, a maternally inherited disease, leads to vision loss in young men and is caused largely by mutations in mitochondrial DNA: ND1, ND4, and ND6. Neurophth's NR082 delivers a normal mitochondrial codon-optimized ND4 gene via a recombinant adeno-associated viral vector, serotype 2. The drug is also undergoing a Phase I/II trial in the US.
Neurophth is developing a second gene therapy candidate, NFS-02, for LHON caused by mitochondrial mutations in ND1. China's National Medical Products Administration and the US Food and Drug Administration have each granted Neurophth permission to begin studying NFS-02 in human trials, and the firm is conducting a global multicenter study testing its activity.