Taris Biomedical Inc. completes an $18.3 million B round that the company says will support the clinical development of its bladder disorder treatment drug-device combination.
The Lexington, Mass. based company said the equity-based B round will support its lidocaine delivery technology developed at MIT to treat bladder conditions. Third Rock Ventures, a new backer for the company, led the round, and previous investor, Flagship Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners and Polaris Venture Partners also participated in the financing.
“This investment will allow us to advance our lead product candidate, Lidocaine Releasing Intravesical System (LiRIS), into later stage clinical development for the treatment of multiple bladder disorders, and to continue to build the rest of our pipeline of novel therapeutics, leveraging common, minimally invasive urological procedures,” CEO Sarma Duddu said in prepared remarks.
In March, Taris, began a clinical study to evaluate Liris in patients suffering from moderate-to-severe interstitial cystitis (IC), also know as Painful Bladder Syndrome. Sufferers with severe cases of IC may urinate 25 to 60 times a day, according to the company.Taris finished the first phase of trials of the Liris drug-device combination to treat IC in December 2009.
The company launched in July 2009 with a $15 million A round supported by Flagship, Flybridge and Polaris.