Imara, a Cambridge, MA-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on sickle cell disease and other hemoglobinopathies, raised $63m in Series B financing.
The round was co-led by OrbiMed Advisors and Arix Bioscience plc, with participation from RA Capital and Rock Springs Capital and existing investors New Enterprise Associates, Pfizer Venture Investments, Lundbeckfonden Ventures, Bay City Capital, and Alexandria Venture Investments. In conjunction with the funding, David Bonita M.D., a Partner at OrbiMed, and Arix Bioscience’s Investment Director Mark Chin, joined Imara’s board of directors. John Cassidy, Ph.D., Investment Associate at Arix Bioscience and Matthew Hammond, Ph.D., Principal at RA Capital, will join as observers.
The company intends to use the proceeds to advance IMR-687 for the treatment of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) and Thalassemia, and expand its pipeline.
Led by Rahul D. Ballal, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Imara is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on sickle cell disease (SCD) and other hemoglobinopathies.
The company is currently developing IMR-687, a highly selective, potent small molecule inhibitor of PDE9, to treat patients with sickle cell disease. IMR-687 was specifically designed to treat patients with sickle cell disease by both reducing red blood cell sickling and blockage of blood vessels that are underlying causes of the pathology of sickle cell disease. IMR-687 completed a Phase 1 study in healthy volunteers and is currently being evaluated in a multi-national Phase 2a study in adult patients with sickle cell disease.
FinSMEs
18/03/2019