Two Orange County biomedical companies have landed venture funding, nabbing more than $20 million in two separate deals.
Laguna Niguel-based Chimeric Therapies Inc., a medical therapy company, recently raised $9.7 million in its fourth round of venture funding. Also, Aliso Viejo-based MicroVention Inc., which develops catheter products to treat aneurysms and strokes, recently closed a third round totaling $12.5 million.
Domain Associates, a Princeton, N.J. venture capital firm with a Laguna Niguel office, and Alloy Ventures of Palo Alto led Chimeric’s funding. 3i Biosciences, Alafi Capital, Ell & Co., Leeway & Co. and Sofinnova Ventures also participated.
“(Our investors) were with us for prior rounds of financing,” said Virgil Thompson, Chimeric’s chief executive. “They continue to believe in us and support us.”
Chimeric said in a release that its fourth round would remain open for another 120 days so it can seek new investors and make one or more additional closings. The company hopes to raise an additional $10 million in the round, said Thompson, who was in the San Francisco Bay area last week to meet with potential venture investors.
Founded in 1996, Chimeric has raised more than $31 million to date. The 30-employee company, although based in OC, operates primarily in Philadelphia, Thompson said. Chimeric’s cell processing facility is there.
“Most of our employees are not in Laguna Niguel. We’re headquartered there because Domain Associates has an office there and we were one of their incubator companies,” he said.
The company plans to use the money to support clinical development of its leukemia program, which centers on adults who need bone-marrow transplants to fight the disease. Chimeric is developing a system to process bone marrow, including stem cells and T-cells that could increase the success of such transplants, Thompson said.
The best prospect for a cure for leukemia patients is a bone-marrow transplant, Thompson said, “but you risk graft vs. host disease, (where) the patient’s immune system attacks” donor marrow. “If it’s severe, it can be very serious.”
Less than one-third of leukemia patients, according to Thompson, have a perfect match for a bone marrow transplant.
“If we are successful, a lot more leukemia patients could receive transplants,” he said.
Chimeric has started clinical trials in which 15 bone marrow transplant centers are participating, including the University of California, San Diego, Thompson said.
The company also plans to launch a clinical trial of its technology to treat sickle-cell anemia patients, according to Thompson. Sickle-cell anemia is a blood disorder that predominantly affects African-Americans.
“It’s even harder (for sickle-cell patients) to find a transplant because it has to be a relative who doesn’t carry the trait. There’s less than a 15% chance of a fully matched donor,” he said.
While medical technology companies are seeing increased investor interest, Thompson, who has been Chimeric’s chief executive since September, said fund-raising has been tough.
Companies face long timelines for developing biotech products and devices, he said, and some public biotech companies now are competing with private counterparts for funding.
As for MicroVention, Domain Associates also was involved in the company’s recent round. DeNovo Ventures and Delphi Ventures, two Silicon Valley firms, led the round. Other participants included Asset Management Partners, Advanced Technology Ventures and Crosspoint Venture Partners, which has an office in Irvine.
Landing the funding places MicroVention “on the fast track” for launching its first product, the HydroCoil & #228; device, and bringing a second into clinical trials, said Robert Rosenbluth, MicroVention’s chief executive, in a release. MicroVention, which employs 50 people, has raised $24 million so far. n
