Noema Pharma raises CHF54 million in Series A financing round led by Sofinnova Partners and Polaris Partners

Noema Pharma (‘Noema”) AG, a Swiss clinical-stage company targeting orphan neurological disorders, today announced it has successfully concluded an oversubscribed Series A financing round, raising CHF54 million ($59 million USD) to fund further development of its promising clinical-stage pipeline. The round was co-led by Sofinnova Partners, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London and Milan, and Polaris Partners, a healthcare and technology investment firm based in the United States. The global consortium of new international investors includes Gilde Healthcare, Invus and BioMed Partners. Roche, the Swiss multinational healthcare company, received a shareholding in Noema in exchange for rights to four clinical-stage product-candidates.

Darren Carroll of Polaris Partners and Arthur Franken of Gilde Healthcare join Antoine Papiernik of Sofinnova Partners on the Company’s Board of Directors.

A 2019 seed investment from Sofinnova Partners formed Noema. From the outset, Noema has been leveraging the latest scientific discoveries in neuroscience to identify and pursue promising new indications, and to elaborate a strategy around the four product candidates it licensed from Roche.

Luigi Costa, Chief Executive Officer, said: “The successful licensing of these exciting clinical-stage product-candidates from Roche, together with our up-sized CHF54 million Series A financing, will enable Noema to reach value-creating development milestones with all four products. We are honored to have garnered continued support from our seed investor, Sofinnova Partners, and to have attracted Polaris Partners as a co-lead investor. We are equally pleased to welcome highly experienced specialist investors Gilde Healthcare, Invus and BioMed Partners. We are now in a solid position to continue advancing these potentially life-changing therapeutics for patients who have no satisfactory treatment options.”

The product candidates will be developed in neurological indications with severe unmet need, such as seizures in tuberculosis sclerosis complex (TSC), trigeminal neuralgia, Tourette syndrome and other rare neurological disorders.

George Garibaldi, MD, Chief Medical Officer, said: “The strong clinical and preclinical safety packages generated at Roche will enable us to swiftly pursue a series of clinical programs in orphan CNS indications. Our analyses, based on new scientific evidence, have led us to indications upon which we have been building new intellectual property and efficient development and regulatory strategies. Across all our clinical initiatives, we focus on partnering with patients and patient associations to gather their input on what matters to them.”

Mr. Papiernik, Chairman and Managing Partner of Sofinnova Partners, said: “Noema’s successful Series A financing substantiates our early conviction in the tremendous potential of this team and the work they have done thus far to bring groundbreaking therapies to patients with debilitating neurological disorders. Luigi, George and John Kemp, Noema’s Chief Scientific Officer, have been instrumental in laying the foundations of this company and now, bolstered by this significant investment, they are in a strong position to further progress Noema’s promising product candidates into the clinic.”

Mr. Carroll, Partner at Polaris Partners, said: “Noema is a prime example of the exceptional pharma-grade assets Europe has to offer, along with a flourishing talent pool. We are delighted to co-lead this round of global investors and look forward to working with Noema to make this a global success.”

LifeSci Advisors acted as investor relations advisor to Noema.

Source: Biospace