Viewpoint raises $35M series B

ViewPoint Therapeutics Inc. (San Francisco, Calif.) raised $35 million on March 5 in a series B round led by The Rise Fund, a fund managed by TPG Growth. New investor Novo Holdings A/S (Hellerup, Denmark) also participated, as did existing investors Biotechnology Value Fund, Mission Bay Capital, Lagunita BioSciences, the University of Michigan MINTS initiative and Ed Hurwitz, who is ViewPoint's co-founder and chairman as well as a managing director at MPM Capital.

ViewPoint said it plans to start Phase I and II testing of lead candidate VP1-001 to treat patients with cataracts and presbyopia. The company declined to provide a timeline. The therapy is a small molecule stabilizer of alpha-crystallin (see BioCentury Innovations, Nov. 12, 2015)...