German Biotech Gets €47M To Treat Painful Inflammatory Disease

InflaRx has raised $55M (€47M) in a Series D fundraising in order to get its lead anti-inflammatory drug, IFX-1, through late-stage development. 

A year after its €31M Series C, InflaRx is closing a Series D round. The company has raised a total of $55M (€47M) from a team of US investors co-led by Bain Capital Life Sciences, Cormorant Asset Management and RA Capital Management. Of the total sum, $25M (€21M) was raised in the form of a share purchase.

The fresh cash will be invested in advancing IFX-1, the company’s lead drug candidate through Phase IIb as well as advance its preclinical pipeline. IFX-1 is an antibody that blocks human complement factor C5a, a fragment of a protein called C5 that acts as an amplifier of the inflammatory response. Unlike other drugs that completely block the C5 protein by cleaving it, IFX-1 only targets the C5a fragment, leaving intact another fragment called C5b-9, which plays an important role in protecting the body from infections.

IFX-1 successfully completed a Phase IIa in July in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa, a chronic auto-inflammatory disease that causes the development of big, painful pimp-like bumps in the skin that leave big scars behind. With such a big Series D fundraising, the company is now ready to take on a Phase II study on the same condition.

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