Feb 22, 2018

Liquidia restarts funding flow UNC Chapel Hill spinout Liquidia has secured an initial $25.5m and is aiming for a $53.3m close. Author: Thierry Heles, editor Liquidia Technologies, a US-based biopharmaceutical spinout from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has raised $25.5m in funding, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday. The round, which has a target size of $53.3m, includes up to $27.8m in series D shares offered to shareholders in a rights offering. The identity of the investors has not been disclosed. Founded in 2004, Liquidia has developed technology, dubbed Print, to precisely engineer drug particles. It has a range of drug candidates in its pipeline, including its lead candidate, LIG865, a pain management compound currently undergoing a phase 3 trial. Liquidia is commercialising research by Joseph DeSimone, the chancellor’s eminent professor of chemistry, and Edward Samulski, chairmain of the Department of Applied Physical Sciences. The company’s latest funding round comes two weeks after it appointed Kevin Gordon as president and chief financial officer. Gordon had previously been executive vice-president and chief operating officer of biopharmaceutical services provider IQVia. Liquidia previously raised $13.8m in July 2012 according to a securities filing, after philanthropic organisation Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as the lead investor with a $10m commitment in 2011 . Contract research organisation PPD contributed to the company's $25m series C round in 2010, which was led by Canaan Partners with participation from New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Morningside Venture Investments, Pappas Ventures and Firelake Capital. NEA led Liquidia's $16m series B round in 2007, with contributions from Firelake Capital and Wakefield Group, the latter of which had led a $6m series A round in 2006 that included Firelake, industrial product and appliance maker Siemens and assorted angel investors. – A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.