Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a NYC-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics to treat chronic liver diseases, has completed a $30m Series C financing.
The round was led by OrbiMed Advisors LLC, with participation from existing majority investor Genextra S.p.A.
In conjunction with the financing, OrbiMed’s Jonathan Silverstein and Klaus Veitinger, MD, have joined Intercept’s Board of Directors.
The company intends to use the funding to build its pipeline.
Led by Mark Pruzanski, MD, president and CEO, Intercept focuses on treating orphan and more prevalent liver diseases utilizing its expertise in bile acid chemistry. The company’s lead product candidate, obeticholic acid, or OCA, is a bile acid analog and first-in-class agonist of the farnesoid X receptor (FXR). OCA is initially being developed for the second line treatment of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) in patients with an inadequate response to, or who are unable to tolerate, ursodiol, the only approved therapy for this indication.
OCA has orphan drug designation in both the United States and Europe for the treatment of PBC.
Intercept owns worldwide rights to OCA outside of Japan and China, where it has out-licensed the product candidate to Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma (DSP).
FinSMEs
10/08/2012