A biotechnology firm in Durham has raised millions of dollars, and is potentially looking to add more.
Avicenna Biosciences raised $6 million in debt from a single investor, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The startup could look to add more, with a total offering amount set at $10 million.
With the new funding, Avicenna has raised about $11.5 million since September 2020, according to previous SEC filings. This includes a $3 million raise in 2022 and a $2.5 million raise in 2020.
The company couldn't be reached to comment on the funding.
Avicenna is a drug development company that uses "machine learning-enhanced medicinal chemistry" that accelerates the process of identifying a lead candidate in for small molecule drug development, according to the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. The company is developing a drug candidate targeting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.
The raise comes amid a continued dip in venture capital deals in the biopharma sector.
Deal activity reached about $54.4 billion in value in 2021, before dropping to $36.7 billion in 2022 and then $29.9 billion in 2023. Deal activity in Q4 2023 was down 19 percent from the previous quarter, according to a recent PitchBook report.
The decline in deal activity "marked a significant correction from the explosive growth" that the biopharma sector experienced during Covid-19 pandemic, PitchBook says in its latest report on the biopharma sector.
"Venture capital funding trends indicated a cautious yet discerning investment approach, with an increased median interval between funding rounds, underscoring a preference for companies showcasing mature clinical data," the report says.
Avicenna was incorporated in North Carolina in October 2020. The SEC filing identifies Christopher Meldrum, Thomas Kaiser and Pieter Burger as executive officers and directors of the company.
Meldrum is an entrepreneur in residence at DCVC Bio, a venture capital fund that invests in early-stage computational biology startups. Before joining DCVC, Meldrum was with Golden Pine Ventures, where he launched and ran multiple biotech ventures spun out of major universities, according to his bio on DCVC's website.
Another local biopharma startup, Focal Medical, filed paperwork with the SEC Monday for a $950,000 raise from two investors. The company recently received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to initiate a phase 1b clinical study of a drug-device combination product intended to treat inoperable tumors by delivering chemotherapy drugs directly to the affected organs.