PureTech entity Celea raises $180 million to move lung disease drug into late stage trial

July 2 (Reuters) - Celea Therapeutics, linked to PureTech Health PRTC.L, on Thursday completed a $180 million financing round for a late-stage trial of its lung disease drug, deupirfenidone, in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

  • Celea expects to start a head-to-head trial in the third quarter, it said in a statement on Thursday.

  • As well as PureTech, RA Capital, Leaps by Bayer, a large, U.S.-based healthcare-focused fund, and a sovereign wealth fund, participated in the round.

  • Celea and the transferred assets were valued at $100 million before the round and $302.5 million after it on a fully diluted basis.

  • PureTech contributed $30 million to the financing and is reserving $70 million to support Celea in the future.

  • After the financing, PureTech will hold a 35.4% stake in the biotech and is entitled to receive tiered royalties on annual net sales of Celea's products using deupirfenidone technology.

  • PureTech is also eligible for up to $190 million in aggregate milestone payments.

  • Deupirfenidone is an experimental drug designed to slow or prevent lung scarring with improved tolerability, potentially making patients more likely to stick to their treatments than with existing medications.

  • Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a disease of unknown cause where the lung tissue becomes damaged and scarred, making it increasingly difficult to breathe.


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