Microbiotica, a clinical-stage biopharma company developing a pipeline of orally-dosed, precision microbiome medicines, has announced the first close of a £36 million Series C financing.
The financing was led by British Business Bank, with participation from Tencent, IP Group, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Flerie Invest, and Seventure Partners. All existing Series B investors participated.
Proceeds will support the advancement of its lead asset MB310 into Phase 2 clinical development in ulcerative colitis, following positive early study results.
Ulcerative colitis is the most common form of inflammatory bowel disease and is a major debilitating disease that affects up to five million people globally. Despite available treatments, many patients do not achieve or maintain remission, highlighting the need for new therapeutic approaches.
MB310 is a once-daily oral capsule comprised of a consortium of eight specific live gut commensal bacterial strains. Its differentiated mechanism of action promotes gut epithelial barrier repair and delivers anti-inflammatory effects, directly addressing the key drivers of disease which, together with its favourable safety profile, makes it ideally placed to be combined with existing ulcerative colitis products.
“We believe Microbiotica is emerging as a world leader in the development of microbiome therapeutics,” said Carmine Circelli, senior investment director, life sciences at the British Business Bank.
“Its Phase 1b study in ulcerative colitis produced statistically significant clinical remission, best in disease potential with no safety issues. This funding allows the company to move MB310 forward into a Phase 2 trial which, if it confirms the promise seen in Phase 1b, has the potential to be a major breakthrough in the treatment of ulcerative colitis.”
Spun out of the Wellcome Sanger Institute in 2016, Microbiotica has a unique genomics-driven microbiome platform which combines a diverse microbiome culture collection, a proprietary human Reference Genome Database, advanced bioinformatics, and machine learning tools.
When this platform is applied to clinical trial datasets, it can precisely identify bacteria associated with favourable clinical trial outcomes in specific patient populations. This clinical-data led approach informs the selection of bacterial strains for therapeutic development with the potential to improve the likelihood of clinical success.
The company has established partnerships with MSD, Cancer Research UK, Genentech, The University of Adelaide and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
The platform is also supporting the development of Microbiotica’s broader pipeline. The company is advancing MB097, its precision microbiome asset for patients with advanced melanoma.
Dr Sam Williams, venture partner at IP Group, said: “We have been very impressed by Microbiotica’s progress since we first invested in the company, from translating pioneering microbiome science from the Wellcome Sanger Institute into a powerful genomics-driven microbiome platform that has generated promising efficacy in two Phase 1b clinical trials.
“There is an important opportunity to advance Microbiotica’s precision microbiome approach into a larger clinical study, and we are pleased to continue supporting the Company as it enters this next phase of development.”
Tim Sharpington, CEO of Microbiotica, added: “This financing marks an important next stage for Microbiotica and reflects the significant progress we have made in translating our powerful genomics-driven microbiome platform into clinical-stage products, alongside developing a scalable and cost-effective manufacturing process.”