Vickers Venture Partners leads US$13.2m Series B round in UK biopharma startup

VICKERS Venture Partners led the US$13.2 million Series B funding round in SiSaf, a UK-headquartered commercial-stage biopharmaceutical startup.

The funding round was matched by the UK government's Future Fund, which supports the UK's innovative businesses affected by Covid-19.

The funds raised from SiSaf's Series B round will be used to accelerate the startup's ribonucleic acids (RNA) therapeutic programmes to treat rare and therapeutically neglected genetic conditions of the bone and eye, as well as expand the pipeline across multiple debilitating autosomal dominant disorders, it said in a statement.

SiSaf founder and chief executive Suzanne Saffie-Siebert said: "This funding will speed up the translation of top scientific research into safe, effective and accessible treatments for patients with no specific treatment options currently available to them."

SiSaf created the silicon-based Bio-Courier technology, a non-viral, hybrid carrier system for therapeutic small interfering RNA (siRNA). siRNA can be used to target nearly all disease-related genes of interests, but are one of the most challenging molecules for targeted delivery due to their poor cellular uptake, susceptibility to degradation and potential to stimulate an immune response.

Vickers Venture Partners chairman Finian Tan said: "We believe SiSaf is well on the way to making the most sweeping change to RNA therapeutics ever made, helping to deliver on the promise of true personalised medicine."