Company	Investors	Use Of Proceeds
Tioma Therapeutics Inc.; St. Louis, Missouri and Brisbane, California (ST)	Tioma, which is developing immunotherapies for solid tumors and blood cancers, raised $86m in a Series A venture round co-led by RiverVest Venture Partners, Novo Ventures, Roche Venture Fund and SR One.	Tioma was formed as Vasulox in 2006 and subsisted on multiple seed rounds until the Series A. The company is working on anti-CD47 antibodies, and will use the proceeds from the financing to bring its lead candidate – an anti-CD47 immune checkpoint inhibitor – through proof-of-concept trials. Tioma recognizes the potential in creating combination compounds in the cancer immunotherapy space, including combos with PD-1/L1 inhibitors. The company is led by John Donovan as president and CEO; Donovan co-founded Alios BioPharma and was that firm's chief business officer and chief financial officer before it was bought by Johnson & Johnson for $1.75bn in 2014. (Also see " Reading between the lines of J&J's $1.75bn Alios buy " - Scrip, 1 October, 2014.)
Nutrinia; Ramat-Gan, Israel and Morristown, New Jersey (ST)	Nutrinia raised $30m in its Series D financing led by TPG Biotech, which was joined by other new backers HIG BioHealth Partners and WuXi Healthcare Ventures as well as returning shareholders OrbiMed, Pontifax and others. A Series C round in December 2014 totaled $12m.	The company, which is developing an oral insulin for gastrointestinal indications in infants, will use the funds to commence two pivotal trials for intestinal malabsorption in preterm newborns born at 26 to 32 weeks gestational age, and infants with short bowel syndrome who are under 12 months. (Also see "Venture Funding Deals, February 2015" - Scrip, 6 February, 2015.)
Avelas Biosciences Inc.; San Diego, California (ST)	Avelas raised $20m in its Series C round led by Pharmstandard International and new investors Ervington Investments and Alexandria Venture Investments along with returning backers Avalon Ventures, Bregua Corp. and WuXi Healthcare Ventures.	The company is developing fluorescence image-guided probes for cancer surgery. The Series C proceeds will fund development of lead cancer illuminator candidate AVB620 – a peptide that can be activated by proteases – in Phase I trials to detect, mark and visualize breast cancer. The money will also go towards potential development of targeted cancer therapies.
Vyome Biosciences Pvt. Ltd.; New Delhi, India (ST)	Vyome raised $14m in its Series C financing led by Perceptive Advisors and Romulus Capital, which were joined by returning shareholders including Kalaari Capital, Sabre Partners and Aarin Capital.	The company is working on therapies for skin diseases caused by resistant microbes. Vyome will use the funds to continue developing its lead candidate VB1953, which is in IND-enabling studies for moderate-to-severe acne. (Also see "Indian Start-up Vyome Wins Milestone FDA Nod For Acne Studies" - Scrip, 25 January, 2016.)
CBT Pharmaceuticals; Santa Clara, California	Oncology-focused CBT closed a $9.75m Series A round, which included $2m in warrants and was led by OrbiMed Asia. The firm now has $14.75m in operating capital, including $5m in seed funding from parent company Crown Bioscience International Inc.	CBT will use its cash to advance two of its four development programs into clinical trials. The c-MET inhibitor CBT-101 is being evaluated in a Phase I trial in China, but the company plans to initiate a Phase I study in the US in patients with c-MET dysregulated malignancies. A Phase I study in Southeast Asia also is expected to start in 2017 for the PD-1 inhibitor CBT-501 and CBT is pursuing approval to start another Phase I study in China.
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Cambridge, Massachusetts	Amylyx completed a $5m Series A round led by Morningside Venture, which was joined by the ALS Investment Fund, former Genzyme CEO Henri Termeer, and other new and existing investors. The ALS Accelerated Therapeutics Initiative, a collaboration between the ALS Association and ALS Finding A Cure, previously provided a $2.96m grant.	The company has now raised $10m to fund a Phase II clinical trial in the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) for AMX0035, a proprietary fixed-dose combination of sodium phenylbutyrate and tauroursodeoxycholic acid that's designed to block nerve cell death and neurotoxic inflammation. An investigational new drug (IND) application seeking FDA permission to start the trial will be submitted in the fourth quarter of 2016. The first-in-human study, which will assess safety and functional outcomes, is expected to begin soon after the IND submission at more than 20 US clinical sites.
Oculis EHF; Reykjavik, Iceland (ST)	Oculis raised an undisclosed amount in its Series A financing led by Brunnur Ventures and Silfurberg, which were joined by undisclosed backers.	The company will use the proceeds for ongoing development of its patented solubilizing nanoparticle (SNP) drug delivery platform, which enables sustained-release of lipophilic drugs over several hours compared to only a few minutes with conventional eye drop technologies. Additional money will help advance its drug candidates including Phase II DexNP, which would be the first topical eye drop to treat diabetic macular edema. DexNP is also in development for uveitis. Other pipeline candidates are aimed at glaucoma, dry eye, and diabetic retinopathy.
Activate Immunotherapy; San Diego	NovaRx closed the first tranche of a "multimillion-dollar" financing and changed its name to Activate Immunotherapy.	Activate believes that its cell-based immunotherapy Lucanix, while "narrowly" missing the primary endpoint in a Phase III lung cancer clinical trial completed in 2013, still holds promise in multiple indications. The company will attempt to revive the product candidate, starting with studies in disease models.

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