• Step Pharma

  Participated · Series C · Oct 2025

  Founded in 2014, Step Pharma is pioneering inhibition of cytidine triphosphate synthetase-1 (CTPS1) to create highly selective cancer therapies that spare healthy tissue. Its lead compound, dencatistat, is in a phase 1a dose-escalation study for solid tumours and is also being tested in a phase 1/2 trial for relapsed or refractory T- and B-cell lymphoma, an indication for which it holds FDA orphan-drug designation. A third clinical programme is underway in essential thrombocythaemia, and phase 1b expansion cohorts for CTPS2-null ovarian and endometrial cancers are slated to begin enrolling in 2026, with a lung-cancer cohort planned. CTPS2 loss occurs in roughly 15-20 % of these gynaecological tumours, creating a synthetic-lethal dependency on CTPS1 that dencatistat is designed to exploit. Proceeds from recent financing will also fund drug manufacture and pivotal toxicology ahead of phase 2 studies. Headquartered in Saint-Genis-Pouilly, France, the company is backed by investors such as Kurma Partners, V-Bio Ventures, Bpifrance, Pontifax, Hadean Ventures, Sunstone Life Science Ventures and others, and it closed a €38 million Series C round in October 2025.

• VectivBio

  Participated · Equity · Oct 2020

  VectivBio is a rare-disease biopharma led by CEO Luca Santarelli. The company was founded three years ago by Santarelli, a former Roche executive. It completed a public listing roughly a year ago. The article reports VectivBio has secured more than $100 million in new funding through a licensing pact and a loan. The article does not provide details on the company's specific product candidates, pipeline, operating metrics, or revenues. No counterparties or investors were named in the report. VectivBio AG is a Basel, Switzerland-based clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing transformational therapeutics for patients with serious rare diseases. Its lead investigational program is apraglutide, a next-generation GLP-2 analog for the treatment of short bowel syndrome (SBS). Phase II studies of apraglutide demonstrated the potential for once-weekly dosing. The company closed a $110M crossover financing to support the Phase III program for apraglutide. Proceeds will also fund early commercialization activities and further development of the pipeline through business development initiatives. VectivBio is led by CEO Luca Santarelli, M.D., and pursues rare-disease programs with well-defined biology to deliver best-in-disease therapies. VectivBio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company formed to develop transformational medicines for patients with serious rare diseases. Its lead program, apraglutide, is a next-generation GLP-2 analog intended to increase the intestine's ability to absorb fluids and nutrients for patients with short bowel syndrome (SBS). The company notes an estimated 35,000 people with SBS in the U.S. and Europe and that severe patients require lifelong parenteral support. Apraglutide aims to reduce the burden of parenteral support by improving intestinal absorption. Topline results from two Phase 2 studies of apraglutide in SBS patients were expected by the end of the first quarter of 2020. The VectivBio executive team includes former Therachon leaders, aligning prior experience with the program's clinical development.

• Therachon

  Participated · Debt Financing · Aug 2018

  Therachon AG is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing medicines for rare diseases, with a lead program targeting achondroplasia. Its lead candidate, TA-46, is a novel protein therapeutic being developed as a weekly subcutaneous therapy for children and adolescents with achondroplasia. Therachon is conducting a Phase 1 randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial in healthy volunteers to evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of single and multiple increasing doses of TA-46. The company has also initiated the 'Dreambird' natural history study to prospectively assess complications of achondroplasia in approximately 200 children across sites in Europe, Canada and the United States to enable treatment studies in children in 2019. Proceeds from its financings are intended to advance TA-46 and expand its rare disease pipeline. The company is based in Basel, Switzerland. Therachon is a biotechnology company focused on developing treatments for rare, genetic diseases. Its lead pipeline candidate, TA-46, is a novel protein therapy in development for achondroplasia, the most common form of short-limbed dwarfism. The company says TA-46 has demonstrated exceptional preclinical efficacy and aims to fully restore normal growth and mitigate complications in affected children. Proceeds from the recent financing will be used to advance Therachon’s emerging portfolio and move its lead program toward the clinic. The Series A financing now stands at $40 million after a $5 million final close. The company recently appointed Luca Santarelli, M.D., as CEO and added Bpifrance’s Chahra Louafi to its board. Therachon is developing a soluble form of human fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 as a protein therapy intended to restore normal bone growth and proportions in children with achondroplasia. The company’s lead program is a soluble decoy FGFR3 that showed increased bone length and reduced complications in mouse models in a 2013 Science Translational Medicine paper from Dr. Elvire Gouze’s lab. Therachon plans to use its new financing to advance the lead program through clinical proof of concept and toward clinical trials. The company was seeded by Versant Ventures and Inserm Transfert Initiative in 2014, and Elvire Gouze serves as founder and scientific advisor. Therachon is based in Nice, France, and targets a patient population of roughly 200,000 worldwide, with achondroplasia affecting about one child in every 15,000 births. Company leadership highlights that there are currently no approved therapies for achondroplasia, underscoring the program’s clinical need.

• BIOMODEX

  Participated · Series A · Jun 2018

  Biomodex develops patient-specific synthetic organs using patented 3D-printing technology that converts medical imaging (CT, echo) into biomechanically accurate organ models with quick turnaround. The company’s core product is used primarily for interventional neuroradiology and is seeing demand from the cardiology space. Led by CEO Thomas Marchand, Biomodex combines 3D printing with proprietary materials and processes to mimic patient-specific tissue behavior. The company intends to expand its product set into interventional cardiology. Biomodex plans to use new funding to develop these cardiology products and to open a new manufacturing facility outside Boston, Massachusetts. The firm is based in Paris, France and Boston, MA.

• ENYO Pharma

  Participated · Series B · Jun 2018

  ENYO Pharma, based in Lyon, France, is developing highly selective FXR agonists—lead candidate Vonafexor and fast follower EYP651—as once-daily oral treatments for renal diseases. Vonafexor showed an effect on renal function (eGFR) in the Phase 2 LIVIFY study of patients with kidney impairment and fibrotic liver disease, and preclinical Alport syndrome and CKD mouse models showed beneficial effects on kidney remodeling and function. In 2023 Vonafexor received Orphan Drug Designation from both the EMA and the FDA for Alport syndrome. ENYO recently received FDA clearance of its IND to initiate the Phase 2 Alpestria-1 study in Alport syndrome. The company plans to further profile Vonafexor in other kidney diseases such as Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD). A recent financing will support the Alpestria-1 study and continued clinical development. ENYO Pharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class small-molecule therapeutics that mimic virus strategies to modulate host cellular functions. Its lead candidate, EYP001, is an orally bioavailable synthetic non-steroidal, non-bile acid FXR agonist currently in phase Ib and is planned to enter two Phase II trials in chronic HBV and NASH before the end of 2018. ENYO positions EYP001 as targeting cccDNA to pursue an HBV cure and reports efficacy in preclinical NASH models with differentiated C4/FGF19 pharmacology. A second asset, EYP002, is a first-in-class chemical series slated for IND-enabling studies in H2 2018 and planned to enter the clinic by 2019. The company has built a discovery engine based on a database of virus–human protein–protein interactions to discover cellular targets and design small molecules. ENYO was incorporated in January 2014 and is headquartered in Lyon, France, with a subsidiary in Melbourne, Australia. ENYO Pharma is focused on developing treatments for viral infections and other infectious diseases through modulation of host cell biology, building on an internal drug development programme around an autophagy target. Its MIMESIS project expands prior feasibility work to an industrialised screening effort using a proprietary library of 10,000 small molecules and original peptides designed to disrupt protein:protein interactions and modulate intracellular targets. The library will be screened in phenotypic assays for inhibitors of several viruses (Influenza, RSV, HRV, Zika), Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and for inducers of immunogenic cell death in tumors. With a total MIMESIS budget of €3.6 million over 24 months, most promising chemistries will enter hit‑to‑lead optimisation programmes funded within the EU grant. Those optimisation efforts targeting novel intracellular mechanisms are intended to generate new intellectual property. Upon completion of MIMESIS, ENYO plans to further optimise its best chemical series internally or in collaboration with pharmaceutical partners up to clinical proof of concept. ENYO Pharma develops therapeutics that block interactions between viral proteins and human intracellular proteins, targeting host cellular functions required for viral replication. The company’s platform arose from work by an Inserm team in Lyon and has produced licensed patents and identified new human drug targets. Its flagship programme targets hepatitis B, with plans to accelerate clinical development following a new financing round. ENYO expects Phase I trials in the first half of 2016 and Phase II trials in chronic hepatitis B patients by 2017. The company says the approach may limit resistance and could apply to other severe viruses, including emerging influenza strains. The recent financing is intended to speed rollout of the hepatitis B programme and broader discovery efforts.

No current team members are available.