RiverVest Venture Partners announced the closing of its RiverVest Venture Fund V. In an oversubscribed fundraise, they now have $275 million to invest in early-stage biopharma and medical device companies.
Jay Schmelter, RiverVest’s co-founder and managing director, pictured above. (RiverVest)
St. Louis-based RiverVest Venture Partners announced the closing of its RiverVest Venture Fund V. In an oversubscribed fundraise, they now have $275 million to invest in early-stage biopharma and medical device companies. It brings their total assets under management to more than $1.6 billion.
Fund V is their largest fund. Of the 55 companies RiverVest has invested in over the last 20 years, 18 have been successfully sold and eight have gone public. They include Allakos, Mirum Pharmaceuticals, and most recently, Spruce Biosciences. They have founded 15 companies to date.
“With RiverVest Venture Fund V, we will continue our investment strategy grounded in close collaboration with entrepreneurs and academic investigators to develop products for the most pressing challenges patients face today,” said Jay Schmelter, RiverVest’s co-founder and managing director. “Fund V’s large size will enable RiverVest to participate more fully in later equity rounds of portfolio companies which have the greatest potential.”
Allakos, for example, is developing lirentlimab for the treatment of eosinophil and mast cell-related diseases. For their full-year 2020 and fourth-quarter 2020 results, they reported upcoming milestones, including topline data from a Phase III study of the drug in patients with EG and/or EoD in the fourth quarter of 2021, topline data from a Phase II/III trial of lirentelimab in patients with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) expected in the fourth quarter, the launch of a Phase III trial of the drug in patients with EoD in the second quarter of 2021, and launch of a Phase II/III trial of subcutaneous lirentelimab in patients with EG and/or EoD in the second half of this year.
Mirum Pharmaceuticals is focused on debilitating liver diseases. For 2021 they expect to complete their rolling New Drug Administration submission for maralixibat in the first quarter, for Alagille syndrome. They also expect to initiate three randomized trials of maralixibat and volixibat for new indications.
On March 17, Spruce Biosciences presented data from its Phase I and II programs of tildacerfont in adults with classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) at the Endocrine Society’s 2021 Annual Meeting. The company went public in October 2020, raising $103.5 million with a public offering price of $15 per share.
RiverVest’s investment partners include most major investors from earlier funds as well as several new institutional investors.
“RiverVest approaches each new investment in our concentrated portfolio with high conviction,” Schmelter said. “Working as a team, we aggressively identify and create investment opportunities, we are thorough in our due diligence, and we aim to provide our portfolio companies collaborative scientific, operational, financial and business development expertise.”
Headquartered in St. Louis, RiverVest has offices in San Diego and Cleveland. It cites at least 27 commercial products to come out of the companies it has invested in, including Lokelma for elevated potassium levels (ZS Pharma/AstraZeneca), Vfend for fungal infections (CyDex Pharmaceuticals/Pfizer), Quinsair for cystic fibrosis (Mpex Pharmaceuticals/Horizon), Margenza for breast cancer (MacroGenics), Lutonix, a drug-coated angioplasty balloon (Lutonix/Bard), Supera, a peripheral stent system (IDEV Technologies/Abbott), Emblems, a leadless implantable cardioverter defibrillator (Cameron Health/Boston Scientific) and many others.
