Oxford biotechnology company OMass Therapeutics has raised $310m (£230m) in an oversubscribed Series C financing round to advance its experimental medicines targeting endocrine and immune-related diseases.
The round was co-led by new investors Bain Capital Life Sciences, Forbion and Novo Holdings, with participation from additional institutional investors and existing shareholders. The financing is one of the larger private biotechnology funding rounds announced in Europe this year.
OMass will direct a substantial part of the proceeds towards clinical development of OMS1620, its lead experimental treatment for congenital adrenal hyperplasia and ACTH-dependent Cushing’s syndrome. The company plans to take the programme through Phase 2 development, building on earlier clinical and preclinical work.
OMS1620 is being developed as an antagonist of the melanocortin-2 receptor, known as MC2. The programme is intended to address diseases involving abnormal hormonal signalling, but its clinical efficacy and safety have yet to be established through the planned development programme.
The company will also use the investment to progress an SLC15A4 inhibitor programme targeting diseases associated with dysregulated immune signalling, including lupus. Generating early clinical evidence for this programme is another stated objective of the financing.
The distinction between these two development stages is important. The lead programme is progressing towards more advanced clinical assessment, whereas the immunology programme remains earlier in development. Neither is an approved commercial medicine.
OMass originated from research led by Professor Dame Carol Robinson at the University of Oxford. Its discovery platform, OdyssION, combines native mass spectrometry with biochemical and chemical approaches to identify small molecules against challenging biological targets.
The company argues that studying proteins and their interactions in more biologically relevant environments can expand the range of targets available for drug development. Those technological capabilities underpin its research strategy, although therapeutic approval ultimately depends on clinical evidence and regulatory assessment rather than the discovery platform alone.
The Series C investment brings additional specialist healthcare capital to a business built around UK university research. Among the new participants are Janus Henderson Investors, SV Health Investors and Jefferson Life Sciences. Existing investors include Syncona, Oxford Science Enterprises, GV, Northpond Ventures, Sanofi Ventures and the British Business Bank.
Syncona has separately disclosed a $10.1m commitment to the round and a £4.7m uplift in the valuation of its existing interest. It expects to own 16.1% of OMass when the financing has been fully drawn down, providing a measure of the transaction’s effect on an existing institutional shareholder.
The fundraising will also bring changes to OMass’s board. Representatives of Bain Capital Life Sciences and Forbion are joining as directors, while Novo Holdings and SV Health Investors will be represented by board observers.
Drug developers can require significant capital over several years as compounds progress through trials, manufacturing development and regulatory review. Raising a large private round can finance those stages without immediately requiring a public listing, although the scale of the investment does not determine whether a candidate will ultimately succeed.
OMass’s next milestones will be the clinical findings generated by its endocrine programme and the initial evidence from its immunology pipeline. Those results will provide a more substantial basis for assessing the therapeutic and commercial potential of the research backed by the new investors.
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