Sheila Gujrathi, M.D. will join the board of directors as executive chair, while Jörn Drappa, M.D., Ph.D. will serve as chief medical officer.
Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Ventyx Biosciences hit the ground running this week. On Monday, the California-based company announced new appointments to strengthen its team and the closing of a $51 million Series B round.
Sheila Gujrathi, M.D. will join the board of directors as executive chair, while Jörn Drappa, M.D., Ph.D. will serve as chief medical officer.
“Sheila’s and Jörn’s depth of experience in developing immunology drugs and expertise in building and leading biotech companies will be invaluable as we advance our portfolio of clinical programs and continue to grow the company,” said Raju Mohan, chief executive officer of Ventyx. “I look forward to working with them as we seek to deliver on our mission to develop a pipeline of small molecule product candidates to address a range of inflammatory diseases.”
The new appointees will help guide the company on the heels of its $51 million Series B convertible preferred stock financing round. The round, which was led by Surveyor Capital and a handful of existing investors, will help accelerate the development of the company’s clinical programs.
“The continued support from our world-class syndicate of investors reflects the potential of our pipeline to bring new treatments to patients suffering from autoimmune disorders,” Mohan said. “This additional capital strengthens our cash position and will enable us to further accelerate the development of our product candidates.”
Ventyx is working to advance therapies for inflammatory diseases and autoimmune disorders. The company currently has three candidates in its clinical stage pipeline: VTX958, a Phase I allosteric TYK2 inhibitor to treat a range of autoimmune diseases; VTX002, a Phase II-ready S1P1 receptor modulator to treat ulcerative colitis; and VTX2735, a Phase I-ready peripheral inhibitor of the NLRP3 inflammasome, which is a mediator of multiple inflammatory conditions.
The company also announced on Monday that it is adding another new member to the board of directors. William White will join the board as an independent director and chair of the audit committee. White has many years of financing experience in the life sciences industry. Luisa Salter-Cid, who has over 20 years of immunology experience, was also appointed as chair of the scientific board.
This flurry of announcements comes just a few months after Ventyx raised a $114 million equity financing, which is also being used to advance the company’s pipeline of immunology programs.
