Vast Therapeutics is celebrating the new year with Series A funding in excess of $15 million from Shionogi & Co., Ltd. (TYO: 4507) of Japan and a $300,000 award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
The Durham company, which changed its name in mid-2018 from Novoclem Therapeutics, will use the CF award to support toxicology studies this spring.
The Series A funding will support bringing the molecule BIOC51 to first-in-human clinical trials later in the year, according to John Oakley, Vast’s chief financial officer. The company anticipates submitting an lnvestigational New Drug application in 2019.