Israeli Drug Developer Polypid Raises $22M For Biotech Platform

February 25, 2016 | Israeli biomed company Polypid has closed a $22 million private equity Series D financing round, co-led by new investor Shavit Capital and current investor Aurum Ventures. The round also included participation of Chaim Hurvitz who will now head the biotech company’s board of directors. Founded in 2008 and run by CEO Amir Weisberg, Polypid has created a drug development platform that enables a controlled and prolonged release of any active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). In particular, the clinical stage company is concentrating on a post-surgical, anti-infection pipeline of drugs. The new investment is expected to facilitate the completion of an ongoing European clinical trial for BonyPid-1000™, the company’s doxycycline-loaded synthetic bone substitute. The Petah Tiqva-based company also plans to finance the initiation of a phase III clinical trial for its lead product, D-PLEX™, designed to prevent post-cardiac surgery sternal infections, where approximately 40% of infections are fatal.