Massachusetts’ Entasis Snags $31.9 Million To Advance Anti-infective Therapeutic Portfolio

Series B-1 Funding will Support the Company’s Programs to Treat Multidrug-Resistant Gram-negative Infections

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Entasis Therapeutics, a leader in the discovery and development of breakthrough anti-infective products, today announced the closing of an upsized $31.9 million Series B-1 extension financing to advance its pipeline of clinical and preclinical products targeting drug-resistant Gram-negative infections. The financing expansion adds Pivotal bioVenture Partners, Sofinnova Ventures and TPG Biotech to the original Series B funding round of $50 million, which closed in March 2016, led by Clarus and included Frazier Healthcare Partners, Novo A/S and Eventide Funds.

“We welcome this strong support from a group of experienced and successful investors who understand the need and market opportunity for new medicines to combat multi drug-resistant bacterial infections”

Entasis also announced that Tracy Saxton, Ph.D., Managing Partner at Pivotal, Heather Behanna, Ph.D., Principal at Sofinnova, and Heather Preston, M.D., Partner at TPG joined the Company’s Board of Directors concurrent with the financing.

“We welcome this strong support from a group of experienced and successful investors who understand the need and market opportunity for new medicines to combat multi drug-resistant bacterial infections,” said Manos Perros, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Entasis. “This additional financing will enable us to continue advancing our portfolio of innovative anti-infective programs into mid and late-stage clinical development, with an immediate focus on drug-resistant, Gram-negative bacterial infections that currently have high mortality rates and significant unmet medical needs.”

Entasis’ programs are derived from a proprietary drug discovery and preclinical platform, targeting serious Gram-negative infections such as Acinetobacter baumannii and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. The approach uses bacterial genomics, molecular dynamics and structure-based design in a highly directed, focused way to bring forward innovative, meaningfully differentiated new antibiotics with the goal of improved efficacy and tolerability against these very challenging pathogens.

“The Entasis team is developing an impressive portfolio of anti-infectives to combat the problem of drug resistance, including the World Health Organizations (WHO) Priority 1 critical pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii,” said Dr. Saxton. “We look forward to working with them to advance multiple differentiated programs for critical hospital infections.”

About Entasis Therapeutics Inc.

Entasis Therapeutics is developing a portfolio of innovative cures for serious drug-resistant bacterial infections, a global health crisis affecting the lives of millions of patients. Entasis’ anti-infective discovery platform has produced a pipeline of meaningfully differentiated programs which target serious bacterial infections, including ETX2514SUL (targeting Acinetobacter baumannii infections), ETX0282CPDP (targeting Enterobacteriaceae infections), and zoliflodacin (targeting Neisseria gonorrhoeae). www.entasistx.com.

About Pivotal bioVenture Partners

Pivotal bioVenture Partners is a newly launched, San Francisco-based venture capital firm. Pivotal’s investment strategy is centered on identifying companies developing differentiated science from discovery to early clinical development with the potential to deliver transformative therapies. For more information, please visit www.pivotalbiovp.com.

About Sofinnova

Founded in 1974, Sofinnova specializes in clinical and late preclinical investments in biopharmaceutical products. Our goal is to actively partner with entrepreneurs across all stages of company development. We seek to build world class companies that aspire to dramatically improve the current state of medical care and the lives of patients through bringing innovative products to market. For more information, please visit www.sofinnova.com.

About TPG

TPG is a leading global alternative asset firm founded in 1992 with more than $73 billion of assets under management and offices in Austin, Beijing, Boston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Luxembourg, Melbourne, Moscow, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, and Singapore. TPG’s investment platforms are across a wide range of asset classes, including private equity, growth venture, real estate, credit, and public equity. TPG aims to build dynamic products and options for its investors while also instituting discipline and operational excellence across the investment strategy and performance of its portfolio. For more information, visit www.tpg.com.