Primrose Bio, a biotechnology company developing manufacturing technologies for biologics, mRNA and vaccines, has raised new funding in a financing round led by Signet Healthcare Partners.
Existing investors 1315 Capital, Ligand Pharmaceuticals, LDV Partners and Agent Capital also participated in the round. The company did not disclose the total amount raised.
As part of the financing, James Gale, Founding Partner and Managing Director at Signet, has joined Primrose Bio’s Board of Directors.
Primrose Bio will use the new funding to expand its technology portfolio and increase its reach across the biopharmaceutical industry.
The company’s technologies include Pfenex Expression Technology, a microbial production platform designed to help manufacture complex proteins at scale. The technology is used in six approved biologic products.
Primrose also develops Prima RNApols, a group of proprietary RNA polymerases designed for consistent and scalable mRNA manufacturing, available in research-use and GMP grades.
Another technology, PeliCRM197, is a carrier protein used in several approved vaccines and is available for research and GMP manufacturing.
“This financing marks an important next step for Primrose and reflects confidence in our technologies, team and commercial opportunity,” said Andrew Burch, Chief Executive Officer of Primrose Bio. “As the engineering of biologic and nucleic acid medicines advances, developers need more robust production systems that also improve quality, yield, speed, scalability and cost. This capital will help us broaden adoption, enhance capabilities and accelerate customers moving therapeutic and vaccine programs forward toward clinical trials.”
“Signet sees a compelling opportunity across Primrose’s portfolio,” said James Gale. “Having partnered with The Dow Chemical Company to establish Pfenex Inc. in 2009, we have seen the platform’s commercial value firsthand. Primrose is building on that foundation with further advances in Pfenex technology as well as Prima RNApols and PeliCRM197. We are pleased to invest in this next phase of growth and support the team as they scale the business and help more customers improve manufacturing performance across multiple therapeutic modalities.”
Primrose Bio said its technologies are used by pharmaceutical companies including Merck, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Alvogen and Serum Institute of India.
The company aims to use its technology platforms to improve the production of biologics, mRNA medicines and vaccines while addressing manufacturing challenges across the industry.
