Alizé Pharma 3, a company specialized in developing therapeutic peptides for rare endocrine and metabolic diseases has completed a €67 million Series A financing round. The oversubscribed Series A was led byLSP, and included Novo Ventures, Kurma Partners, Orbimed, Pontifax, Partners Innovation Fund and Innobio 2 (managed by Bpifrance). Existing shareholders, Sham Innovation Santé/Turenne Capital, Crédit Agricole Création and TAB Consulting also participated in the financing.

The new capital will be used primarily to advance the company’s product portfolio in rare endocrine and metabolic diseases, and to further strengthen it with selective acquisitions. Currently, the portfolio is comprised of two preclinical programs expected to reach clinicalstage in 2020:

• AZP-3601 is a parathyroid hormone (PTH) analog, uniquely designed for the treatment of hypoparathyroidism, that was licensed from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The unique pharmacological profile of AZP-3601, and its specific actions on calcium metabolism, make it a potential best-in-class therapy for this indication associated with high unmet clinical need.
• AZP-3404 is a small peptide that leverages the biology of insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-2 (IGFBP2) to treat syndromes of severe insulin resistance, a collection of ultra-rare diseases with significant morbidity and mortality. AZP-3404 was designed and optimized based on original research licensed from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Maine.

Alizé Pharma 3 will expand its team in Lyon, France, and will open a subsidiary in Boston, Massachusetts, in order to implement global drug development capabilities.