Freya Biosciences, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based transatlantic biotech company specializing in women’s health, raised $11.8M in funding.
The round consisted of $10.4M strategic investment from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with $1.4M additional financing from current investor Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO).
The company intends to use the funds to develop microbial immunotherapies for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis (BV) to address pre-term birth and potentially other indications affecting maternal and newborn health.
Led by CEO Colleen Acosta, Freya is developing microbial immunotherapies to regulate the immune system and inflammatory responses in the vaginal tract using its DYSCOVERTM platform. It has identified Lactobacillusstrains that are capable of engrafting in the vaginal tract thereby displacing the existing dysbiotic vaginal microbiome and reducing key inflammation biomarkers.
To date the platform has yielded Freya’s lead candidate, FB301 for improving pregnancy success in IVF.
The company will now leverage the DYSCOVER platform to develop and bring to the clinic a microbial immunotherapy for BV, which is a common condition that occurs when the vagina is infected with bacteria, causing an imbalance in the local microbiome resulting in unpleasant but usually mild symptoms.
FinSMEs
19/11/2024