Escalier Biosciences Raises $19 Million to Develop its Topical and Systemic RORγt Therapies for Psoriasis and other Autoimmune Diseases

NIJMEGEN, Netherlands and ENCINITAS, Calif., March 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Escalier Biosciences BV, a privately held biopharmaceutical company, today announced the closing of a $19 million Series B financing. The round was led by Forbion with existing investors New Science Ventures and BioGeneration Ventures (BGV) completing the round. Escalier is developing both topical and oral RORγt drug candidates for psoriasis and expects to be in the clinic with its topical compound in mid 2018.

"RORγt is a validated target for psoriasis and other autoimmune disorders and our drug candidates have the potential to provide the desired efficacy and safety in psoriasis patients that is currently unavailable with other topical or oral drugs," said Raju Mohan, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Escalier. "We are incredibly fortunate to have such a supportive syndicate of investors that share our passion in developing novel therapies for challenging targets such as RORγt."

"Escalier's team has an impressive track record of developing novel compounds targeting diseases with significant unmet medical need," stated Marco Boorsma, General Partner at Forbion who will join Escalier's Board of Directors. "We are excited to participate in this financing with New Science Ventures and BioGeneration Ventures and in supporting Escalier's efforts to develop best-in-class drugs for the treatment of psoriasis and other autoimmune diseases."

"We are delighted to have Forbion join us in the current round," added Somu Subramaniam, Managing Partner at New Science Ventures. "The Escalier team made tremendous progress last year and we look forward to moving rapidly towards human clinical trials for our lead RORγt topical and oral drug candidates."

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