News

By Steve Elms and Andrew Schiff, M.D., Managing Partners, Aisling Capital Today, we have the pleasure of announcing the close of our most recent round of funding at Aisling Capital, a $280 million late-stage venture capital fund aimed at accelerating breakthrough medical treatments to market and improving global health. One thing we are continually impressed by at Aisling is the constant evolution of both the biotech industry and medical science, especially in regard to improving patients’ lives. We would like to think that thanks in part to our work, Aisling has helped to increase the number of quality medical treatments in development — which today is larger than ever before. As experience from across Wall Street and medicine came together in 2000 to form what would become Aisling, we observed a pattern of venture capital supporting company formation and raw scientific research. Ultimately however, these companies required substantial additional capital and financial strategy to bring drugs through the clinic and onto the market. We continue to execute on this opportunity to invest in both private and public companies with therapeutics in the clinical stage, the final and most expensive leg of the relay race that is drug development. With our partners’ combination of financial, operational and clinical experience, we decided to focus on helping companies in this final leg of the race — helping to get treatments into the hands of people who need it. The Aisling approach of identifying and investing in promising biotech companies in the later stages of drug development has generally served us well. Over the last 17 years, we have witnessed — and in many cases been a catalyst for — medical innovations in areas ranging from the treatment of cancer and infectious disease, to body contouring procedures and innovative dermatology products. While Aisling has a history of thinking holistically about the intersection of medical science and financial strategy for late-stage startups, the industry at large now seems to be moving in this direction also. We have seen a maturing among biotech entrepreneurs. Management teams are now more focused on ensuring their investors have the right financial expertise to help them fund the final stages of drug development. Rather than spending significant resources experimenting prior to moving into clinical stages, most companies now start on a path toward the development of a treatment or medication at the outset or shortly after. Today, every biotech startup must develop treatments that generate significant upside for patient care through more impact on disease, fewer side effects, and a shift away from toxic therapies toward a personalized approach. We are pleased to have the resources to continue to be a significant participant in our market and help the companies we invest in achieve this goal. We are also grateful to have excellent relationships with likeminded co-investors and work collaboratively with them to provide the support our portfolio companies need to solve some of the world’s most persistent medical challenges. On behalf of Aisling Capital, we want to thank all of our management teams for their unrelenting and unwavering efforts to advance not only their drugs in development, but the sector overall. Of course, we serve at the pleasure of our limited partners and are grateful for their trust, confidence and continued support, and are committed to being good shepherds of their capital by continuing our mission to accelerate breakthrough medical treatments to market.

BRISBANE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aimmune Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AIMT), a biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for potentially life-threatening food allergies, today announced a clinical collaboration with Regeneron and its strategic alliance collaborator Sanofi to study AR101 treatment with adjunctive dupilumab in peanut-allergic patients in a Phase 2 clinical trial. Regeneron will sponsor the trial, with Aimmune to provide clinical supply of AR101 and food challenge materials. AR101 is Aimmune’s investigational biologic oral immunotherapy for desensitization of patients with peanut allergy, and dupilumab is a human monoclonal antibody that inhibits signaling of IL-4 and IL-13 cytokines, which are believed to be major drivers of Type 2 inflammation.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- TransEnterix, Inc. (NYSE American: TRXC), a medical device company that is pioneering the use of robotics to improve minimally invasive surgery, today announced the Company has received FDA 510(k) clearance for the Senhance™ Surgical Robotic System. With this clearance, the Senhance becomes the first new market entrant into the field of abdominal surgical robotics since 2000. Using the system, a surgeon directs small surgical instruments and a camera with precise movements and comfort. The system builds on the foundation of laparoscopy and features the security of haptic feedback and eye-sensing camera control for the first time in a robotic surgery platform. Additionally, the Senhance utilizes an open architecture, which allows hospitals and surgeons to leverage existing technology investments within the operating room ecosystem. The system is specifically engineered to manage operative costs effectively, making robotic surgery cost-effective on a per-procedure basis through the use of fully reusable instruments.

Geneva, Switzerland and Boston, MA - 10 October, 2017 - ObsEva SA (NASDAQ: OBSV), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics for serious conditions that compromise a woman's reproductive health and pregnancy, today announced that it has entered into a securities purchase agreement with a group of institutional accredited investors for the private placement of common shares and prepaid warrants. The private placement is expected to yield gross proceeds of $60 million, and to close on or about October 13th, 2017, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Investors in the private placement consist of new and existing investors, including: some of the company's current shareholders New Enterprise Associates (NEA), New Leaf Venture Partners, Sofinnova Ventures, DAFNA Capital Management, Sphera Global Healthcare Fund, and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, as well as initial investments from Aisling Capital, First Manhattan Co., Ghost Tree Capital and Omega Funds.

HOUSTON and PALO ALTO, Calif. Oct 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and BridgeBio Pharma today announced the launch of Navire Pharma, a biopharmaceutical company aimed at developing novel small-molecule inhibitors of a tyrosine-protein phosphatase called SHP2 for genetically-driven and treatment-resistant cancer. BridgeBio has committed $30 million and a team of senior business managers to the company, while MD Anderson, through its Institute for Applied Cancer Sciences (IACS), provides intellectual property and an oncology drug development team to advance SHP2 inhibitors toward clinical studies.

MEMPHIS, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 26, 2017-- GTx, Inc. (NASDAQ: GTXI) today announced that it has entered into a definitive securities purchase agreement for the sale of its common stock and warrants to purchase common stock in a private placement that is expected to result in gross proceeds to the Company of approximately $48.5 million, before deducting placement agent and other offering expenses. The financing is being led by CAM Capital, Amzak Health and Aisling Capital with additional participation by Boxer Capital of Tavistock Group and Abingworth BioEquities Master Fund Ltd, as well as other existing institutional and individual investors.

STAMFORD, Conn., Sept. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Loxo Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq:LOXO), a biopharmaceutical company innovating the development of highly selective medicines for patients with genetically defined cancers, announced details of the LOXO-292 abstract that will be presented as a late-breaking oral presentation at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 18^th World Conference on Lung Cancer being held from October 15-18, 2017, in Yokohama, Japan. LOXO-292 is Loxo Oncology’s highly selective RET inhibitor.

PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- BridgeBio Pharma, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today provided further detail on its growing pipeline of genetic disease assets and announced a new financing of $135 million, with potential to access significant additional capital via insiders. New investor Viking Global Investors and existing investor KKR co-led the round and were joined by existing investor Perceptive Advisors alongside new investors AIG, Aisling Capital, Cormorant Capital and Janus Funds. The new financing will be used to support BridgeBio Pharma's existing programs and establish novel efforts.

LONDON, Sept. 07, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verona Pharma plc (AIM:VRP) (NASDAQ:VRNA) (“Verona Pharma”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies for respiratory diseases, announces today positive top-line results from its Phase 2a clinical trial, in which RPL554 was dosed in addition to tiotropium (Spiriva®), one of the most commonly used drugs to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In summary, despite the limited number of patients, the data from this Phase 2a trial demonstrated significantly improved peak lung function when RPL554 was added to tiotropium in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD.

MALVERN, Pa., Aug. 09, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACRS), a dermatologist-led, biopharmaceutical company focused on identifying, developing and commercializing innovative and differentiated therapies to address significant unmet needs in medical and aesthetic dermatology, today announced the appointment of Andrew Schiff, Managing Partner of Aisling Capital, to its board of directors, effective August 9, 2017.