Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Taris Biomedical rounds up $18.3M in Series B financing

By Michelle Lang

Taris Biomedical, a Lexington life sciences company developing combination drug-device products, has taken in $18.3 million in a Series B funding round led by new investor Third Rock Ventures. Flagship Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners and Polaris Venture Partners all returned to participate in the financing.

The company is focused on developing a treatment for bladder diseases. The funding will support its lead product, Lidocaine Releasing Intravesical System (LiRIS), in later-stage clinical trials, Taris CEO Sarma Duddu said in a news release today.

As part of the financing, Third Rock Ventures partner Cary Pfeffer will take a seat on the Taris board of directors. Pfeffer joins a board that includes Dennis A. Ausiello, Massachusetts General Hospital; Kevin J. Bitterman, Polaris Venture Partners; Michael J. Cima, MIT; Taris president and CEO Sarma Duddu; Michael A. Greeley, Flybridge Capital Partners; Ed Kania, Flagship Ventures, Robert S. Langer, MIT; and Ernest Mario, PPD Inc.

MIT scientists Cima and Langer co-founded Taris Biomedical in 2008 based on research they conducted in developing a platform to allow drugs to slowly seep out of semi-permeable tube devices – particularly useful in treating diseases affecting organs that are difficult to target.
 
Taris Biomedical raised a $15 million Series A round of funding in June 2009, prompting the start of its clinical trials for the LiRIS.

Langer, a 2004 Mass High Tech All-Star, has a long entrepreneurial history in New England that includes founding or co-founding about 24 biotech companies and being involved with another seven life sciences organizations.

Cima and Langer have collaborated before in co-founding MicroChips Inc., a developer of  implants for patients with diabetes and osteoporosis.