Venture Capital Firms

Investment Firm, Quaker BioVentures Leads $46 Million Investment in Series C Funding for Cempra Pharmaceuticals

Based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Cempra Pharmaceuticals announced that it had raised $46 million in series C funding with Quaker BioVentures leading the funding and the company’s existing investors, Aisling Capital, Intersouth Partners, Wistar Morris III, and Teachers’ Private Capital. As part of the agreement in accepting this funding, Dr. Geeta Verumi, PhD will join Cempra’s board of directors. Dr. Geeta Vemuri is a general partner with Quaker BioVentures. Devon Park Bioventures is also a new investor participating in this round of funding.

Cempra Pharmaceuticals was founded in 2006 and is a privately held company that deals in clinical antibiotics. Currently Cempra is working on the development of antibiotics that are in great need by the health community to combat difficult antibiotic-resistant bacteria. So far the company has been working on the macrolide CEM-101 and the oral antibiotic, CEM-102, which is showing great promise in being able to treat gram-positive infections in preclinical trials. CEM-102 is a macrolide that has so far shown in preclinical trials to be able to mitigate macrolide-resistant organisms in the laboratory.

According to Dr. Verumi, antibiotic resistant infections is becoming a serious problem in the public health sector. Many hospitals are having trouble dealing with serious resistant infections, such as MRSA and others. Since Cempra already has two active clinical trials of these drugs, the company is showing that its product has great potential to meet the growing needs for new solutions to treat antibiotic resistant infections.

As far as Sherill Neff, partner at Quaker BioVentures, is concerned, Cempra Pharmaceuticals is the vc firm�s seventh investment in the state of North Carolina and the team at Quaker BioVentures believes that the North Carolina area is becoming an increasingly productive center for innovative developments in the science community.

Proceeds from this round of funding will go to continue to work on the clinical trials of Cempra’s new CEM-101 and CEM-102 antibiotics.

With $700 million under its management, Quaker BioVentures is a vc firm that is dedicated to investing in companies in the life science industry within the Mid-Atlantic Seaboard and adjoining states. Quaker BioVentures is a leader in investing across all sectors of the life sciences industry; including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, human diagnostics, and healthcare services. Some other companies in Quaker BioVentures’ portfolio include Amicus Therapeutics, Biolex, Celator, Cellitope, EKR Therapeutics, Immune Control, and others.

Founded in 2006, Devon Park Bioventures is a vc firm in the healthcare industry, which solely focuses on therapeutic companies. The vc firm is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and looks for companies that have great commercial promise based on their products, clinical trials, and high class management teams. Devon Park Bioventures has both led and co-led more than 25 different biotechnology companies. Some of the companies in Devon Park Bioventures include Cara Therapeutics, Diasome Pharmaceuticals, Barrier Therapeutics, and others.

To find out more about Cempra Pharmaceuticals, click here.

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