Vergent Bioscience, a Minneapolis, MN-based clinical-stage biotechnology company, raised $21.5M in Series B funding.
The round, which brings the total raised by Vergent to date to $34m, was led by Orlando Health Ventures, with participation form Intuitive Surgical, Windham Venture Partners, Rex Health Ventures, Spring Mountain Capital and Colle Capital. Margo Shoup, M.D., M.B.A., vice president at Orlando Health and president at the Orlando Health Cancer Institute, who will join the Vergent Board of Directors as part of the Series B financing.
Led by CEO John Santini, Vergent Bioscience is a clinical-stage biotechnology company advancing VGT-309, a tumor-targeted fluorescent imaging agent intentionally designed to enable surgeons to see difficult-to-find tumors during surgery in real-time, ensuring all tumor tissue is removed. The company is first evaluating VGT-309 in lung cancer, with the potential to expand its application to a wide range of solid tumors.
GT-309 is delivered to patients via a short infusion several hours before surgery. The molecule binds tightly (i.e., covalently) to cathepsins, a family of proteases that are overexpressed across a broad range of solid tumors, providing distinct clinical advantages and positioning it as an ideal tumor imaging agent. VGT-309’s imaging component is the near infrared (NIR) dye indocyanine green (ICG), which is compatible with all commercially available NIR intraoperative imaging systems that support MIS technologies and is the preferred dye to minimize confounding background autofluorescence.
The company intends to use the funds to advance clinical development of VGT-309.
FinSMEs
04/10/2022