It’s a big day for a local MIT spinoff. Cambridge, MA-based Semprus BioSciences said it has closed $18 million in Series B equity financing, led by new investors SR One (the venture capital arm of drug giant GlaxoSmithKline) and Foundation Medical Partners. Existing investors 5AM Ventures and Pangaea Ventures also participated in the round, which brings Semprus’s total equity financing to $28.5 million. The company has also raised $2.5 million in U.S. government funding since 2008.
Semprus spun out of MIT biotech inventor Bob Langer’s lab in 2007, and was previously called SteriCoat. As my colleague Ryan has reported, the startup is developing surface technologies for medical devices that can help prevent infections or unhealthy blood clots, or promote tissue regeneration. Semprus is led by CEO David Lucchino, who was previously a senior associate with Polaris Venture Partners and a co-founder of biomedical investment firm LaunchCyte.
Surface and coating technologies for medical devices are a big business. Among its first applications, Semprus is making anti-microbial technology for catheters that uses surface chemistry techniques to make it hard for bacteria, fungus, platelets, or blood proteins to stick to the device and cause complications.
In the future, the company says, its technology could be used in orthopedic joint implants, hernia meshes, and pacemakers. And, particularly with GSK’s new investment, next-generation drug delivery devices could be on the horizon.
