Uniseed has returned for the latest round raised by Melbourne spinout ENA Respiratory, which is working on a nasal spray to prevent covid-19.
ENA Respiratory, an Australia-based developer of a nasal spray to prevent respiratory viral infections that emerged out of University of Melbourne, pocketed A$32m ($24.6m) from investors including multi-university venture fund Uniseed yesterday.
Life sciences venture capital firm Brandon Capital Partners and philanthropic organisation Minderoo Foundation co-led the milestone-based financing round.
ENA Respiratory is working on nasal sprays that prevent respiratory viral infections such as the common cold, influenza and covid-19. The company’s lead asset, INNA-051, is an innate immune agonist that is not virus-specific and has shown promising results in preclinical studies.
The funding will allow ENA Respiratory to advance INNA-051 to phase 1 trials to demonstrate efficacy against covid-19. Ruth Tal-Singer, president and chief scientific officer of nonprofit organisation COPD Foundation, has joined the board of directors.
The spinout collected $8.4m in a round led by the Australian government-backed vehicle Medical Research Commercialisation Fund, with participation from Uniseed in October 2020. The same two investors had supplied $4.7m in funding in 2017.
To learn more about Uniseed’s investment philosophy, you can download our interview with chief executive Peter Devine, for free here.
Thierry Heles
Thierry Heles is the editor of Global University Venturing, host of the Beyond the Breakthrough interview podcast and responsible for the monthly GUV Gazette (sign up here for free).
