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Print Edition StoriesMonday, July 27, 2009
Avila lands $30M financing and Novartis deal worth $200M
By Mass High Tech Staff
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Biotech startup Avila Therapeutics Inc. has raised $30 million in a Series B round of financing, according to the Waltham-based company. The round was led by the Novartis Option Fund, a new investor, which has entered into an drug development option agreement with Avila that could bring in more than $200 million to the company.
The Series B round also saw participation from all existing Avila investors, Abingworth, Advent Venture Partners, Atlas Venture and Polaris Venture Partners.
The company was founded in 2007, and is developing a class of covalent, small-molecule, orally administered drugs that bond to disease-generating proteins, essentially shutting them down, or “silencing” them. Avila is in preclinical stages with drugs that target the hepatitis C virus and certain autoimmune diseases and cancer.
The new funding will be used to move Avila’s first program into clinical development, and to advance its proprietary drug discovery platform, Avilomics. Joining Avila’s board as part of the financing deal are Henry Skinner, managing director of the Novartis Option Fund. Also representing investors on the board are Michael F. Bigham of Abingworth, Bruce L. Booth of Atlas Venture, Amir Nashat of Polaris Venture Partners and Raj Parekh of Advent Venture Partners.
In May, Avila named Katrine Bosley its first CEO. Prior to Bosley’s appointment, the company was run by a leadership team that included former ImClone Systems Inc. CEO Daniel Lynch as executive chairman. Lynch still serves as executive chairman of the company, according to officials.
The company closed on an $11.3 million Series A round in April of 2008. In May of 2009, Avila reported it had raised $5 million of what was then anticipated to be a $20 million Series B round.
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