Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Watertown MA-based second generation RNA interference (RNAi) company developing novel therapeutics, secured an additional $4m in the second closing of its Series B equity financing.This brings the total capital raised in this round to $29m. In August, the company had held the first closing.
New investor SR One, the independent corporate healthcare venture capital arm of GlaxoSmithKline, participated in this closing and joins the existing investor syndicate, which includes Oxford Bioscience Partners, Skyline Ventures, Abingworth and Domain Associates, who all previously participated in this round.
The capital will be used to advance Dicerna’s in-house program in oncology towards clinical development and progress its other preclinical programs. The company also plans to use the funds to continue to develop its delivery technologies, including its proprietary lipid nanoparticle system and novel lipid platform, and targeted delivery systems which combine Dicerna’s Dicer Substrate siRNA molecules with targeting moieties such as peptides, aptamers or antibodies.
In conjunction with this investment, Brian M. Gallagher, Jr., Ph.D., a partner at SR One, will become an observer on Dicerna’s board of directors.
FinSMEs
21/10/2010