Cranbury biotech firm receives 31M in funding

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Cranbury-based biopharmaceutical company Oncobiologics Inc. said Monday that it has closed on $31 million in financing to support the continued development of its BioSymphony business model.Privately held Oncobiologics specializes in biosimilars, or therapeutics that replicate formerly patented medicines. It has 11 products in its pipeline, it said, and uses the BioSymphony platform to achieve accelerated development of its medicines.

“Biosimilars are rapidly becoming a major growth sector for the life sciences industry, and our proprietary BioSymphony platform is uniquely designed to develop and manufacture high-quality, cost-effective monoclonal antibodies in a timely manner,” Pankaj Mohan, Oncobiologics’ founder and chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement. “We highly value the significant interest, confidence and financial support of such a successful group of life science investors, which enables us to further our objective of bringing critical care therapeutics to patients in a cost-effective manner.”

This round of financing was led by a new investor, Perceptive Advisors, with other new investors taking part including Cormorant Global Healthcare Master Fund, Longwood Capital Partners and venBio Select Fund. Other investors in this round included Proximare Lifesciences Fund, OSSB Pharma Fund and MIH Fund.

“We look for life science technologies, products and a team with scientific competence that has the potential to generate significant returns to our fund,” Joseph Edelman, CEO and portfolio manager for Perceptive Advisors, said in a statement. “Oncobiologics has an advanced and deepening biosimilar pipeline emerging from a fully integrated technology platform that will differentiate the company in a growing and potentially competitive biosimilar market. We look forward to contributing to the company’s growth in this important segment of the biotechnology industry.”

Citigroup and Jefferies LLC advised Oncobiologics on the transaction.

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