MaaT Pharma accelerates its development with the closing of EUR 1 M in second fundraising
Important step in developing microbiome therapy for severe intestinal dysbiosis.
Lyon, France, July 24th, 2015 – MaaT Pharma, specialist in the gut microbiome restoration area, announces today the closing of its second €1 million of financing supported by Seventure Partners, a leading European venture capital fund manager. This second funding was obtained after MaaT Pharma completed significant scientific milestones regarding its lead product over the last few months. These €1 million allows the company to finance its developments until its clinical phase.
Achieving encouraging results in preclinical tests led with INRA laboratories (French National Institute for Agricultural Research), worldwide leader in the microbiome science and therapeutic applications, MaaT Pharma raises another €1 million to accelerate the development of its autologous intestinal microbiota transplant solution. This round was led by Seventure Partners, which had already invested a first million in December 2014.
MaaT Pharma is developing the first safe and standardized autologous intestinal microbiota transplant solution for hospital use, intended for patients suffering from treatment-induced microbial imbalance (dysbiotic enteropathies). Initially MaaT Pharma will focus on restoring the symbiosis for patients treated for cancer as these treatments are
particularly aggressive regarding the symbiosis. Treating patients in a safe and efficient way with the proprietary MaaT Pharma solution will also reduce the economic burden of enteropathies and their complications.
“The preclinical tests led with our partner INRA these last months have allowed us to determine the optimum conditions for a standardized solution, including the microbiota conservation. This is a major milestone in MaaT Pharma’s development. With the renewed support from Seventure, a trustworthy financial partner with an extensive knowledge of the gut microbiome, MaaT Pharma now has the ability to develop its lead product until the clinical phase starts.“
stated Hervé Affagard, CEO of MaaT Pharma.
From now on, MaaT Pharma initiates a further step and is in the process to launch an additional fundraising to finance
the first phase of its clinical development, in 2016.
About the Human Intestinal Microbiome:
The Human intestinal microbiota is the name given today to the microbial population living in human intestines. It contains 10 times
more bacteria than there are human cells in the body and 20 times more genes than there are genes in our genome. It is a complex
personal ecosystem, usually stable, tightly adapted to the host and in constant symbiotic interaction with human cells and organs.
There are nevertheless numerous conditions and clinical practices that impose stress to the balanced microbiota.
The microbiota fulfils key physiological functions:
- It helps the body digest food constituents that we are not able to digest.
- It helps with the production of some vitamins (B and K).
- It contributes to the maturation and constant vigilance of the immune system
- It prevents colonization by pathogens, performing a barrier effect.
A balanced gut microbial ecology is essential to the maintenance of health and well-being.
MaaT Pharma (Microbiota as a Therapy) is a biotechnology company created in 2014 to treat severe diseases related to intestinal microbiota. The company develops the first treatment using an autologous intestinal microbiota transplant. In this first step, MaaT Pharma considers therapeutic applications intended for patients suffering from malignant blood diseases or bones infections and taking heavy treatments fostering dysbiosis. On the long term, the company will develop a therapeutic armament to fight against intestinal dysbiosis. Co-founded by a well-balanced team composed of world-renowned medicals, scientists and entrepreneurs including INRA as well as Seventure Partners, MaaT Pharma’s ambition is to become one of the leaders in intestinal microbiota protection and dysbiosis treatment.
For more information: www.maatpharma.com
About INRA:
INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research) is a mission-oriented public research institute under the supervision of the French Ministries for Research and Agriculture, and carries out research in the fields of agriculture, food and the environment. As one of the leading agricultural research in the world, INRA maintains scientific partnerships with major scientific research institutes worldwide, universities, agronomy and veterinary schools.
The Institute carries out fundamental and applied research in microbiology that aims to understand the functioning of microorganisms and microbial ecosystems so that they can be better exploited, mastered or controlled. INRA has taken a leadership role at international level in the field of metagenomics and ecology of the Human microbial ecosystems through numerous projects in that field including the MetaHIT and Cross-talk European projects that INRA coordinated. Within Micalis and its recently created
research laboratory MetaGenoPolis, INRA scientists now explore the billions of bacteria that inhabit the human intestine to demonstrate that it is possible to protect, restore and graft intestinal bacteria in order to prevent and treat chronic diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes or Crohn’s disease.
For more information: www.inra.fr
About Seventure Partners:
Seventure Partners is a leading venture capital firm in Europe. Since 1997, Seventure has invested in innovative businesses with high growth potential in digital technologies in France and Germany and in the life sciences field across Europe, with currently over €500m in assets under management.
In life sciences, the four areas of focus include biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, connected health and medtech, industrial biotechnology and cleantech, and last but not least: the microbiome, nutrition, personalized medicine and food. Seventure Partners also considers investments in the field of diagnostics, biomarkers, drug delivery systems, lifestyle healthcare and services.
Investments can range between €500k and €10m per round, or up to €20m per company, from early to late stage. In December 2013, Seventure Partners successfully launched its ‘Health for Life Capital’ Fund which attracted strategic investments from prestigious organizations including Danone, Tereos, Tornier, Lesaffre as well as entrepreneurs and financial institutions.
Seventure is a subsidiary of Natixis, the corporate investment management and financial services arm of Groupe BPCE, the secondlargest French bank.
For more information, please visit: www.seventure.com
