Columbus-based Sermonix Pharmaceuticals Inc. has raised $26 million of Series A venture funding in a deal led by WILD Family Office, which manages the investments of entrepreneur Hans-Peter Wild, who owns the Capri Sun® brand of juice drinks. The proceeds will be used to fund the enrollment and completion of the Phase 2 clinical trial of Sermonix’s lead investigational drug, lasofoxifene, as a potential precision medicine for metastatic breast cancer patients with ESR1 mutations.
Other participants in the financing included experienced biopharmaceutical investors and executives Lodewijk de Vink, Richard DeSchutter and Sermonix Non-Executive Chairman Anthony Wild, Ph.D., among others.
As part of the transaction, Thomas Pfisterer, who heads the direct investments activities of the WILD Family Office, will be joining the Sermonix board. Pfisterer previously worked in the investment banking division of Morgan Stanley Bank AG in Frankfurt, Germany, focusing on mergers and acquisitions and capital market transactions in health care. He currently serves on the board of ADC Therapeutics, ImVax and inSphero.
Sermonix has delivered several recent successes:
- In April, the company added biopharmaceutical industry experts Richard U. DeSchutter, Dr. Michael A. Friedman and Stephen Rubino, Ph.D. to its board.
- In May, lasofoxifene was granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which allows for the expedited development and review of drugs that treat serious conditions and fill an unmet medical need.
- In June, Sermonix presented data at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, demonstrating that lasofoxifene, in combination with palbociclib, was more effective at reducing primary and metastatic tumor growth in a mouse intraductal model.
“We are proud of the Sermonix team’s substantial recent accomplishments in moving the lasofoxifene clinical program forward and will utilize these new funds to continue our momentum,” Sermonix founder and CEO Dr. David Portman said, in a statement.
Treehill Partners acted as exclusive financial adviser to Sermonix on this transaction.
