HC Royalty injects €45m into Cardiorentis

The US investor stated it was investing because of the company's first-of-its-kind trial in Ularitide, a treatment for acute decompensated heart failure.

The biopharma stated the funding structure from HC Royalty provided a significant amount of capital to complete phase-III trials for Ularitide.

The deal marks Switzerland's first biotech investment from a dedicated US healthcare fund so far this year, and the second largest investment in the sector in 2014. Geneva-based biotech NovImmune raised CHF 60m in February in a round led by London-based venture capital firm Rosetta Capital, which focuses on the life sciences and healthcare sectors.

Based in Stamford, Connecticut, HC Royalty closed its first fund, Healthcare Royalty Partners, in July 2008. Its second vehicle, Healthcare Royalty Partners II, is the largest private equity fund dedicated to healthcare royalty investments to date. It has €3bn of assets under management.

HC Royalty invests between $20-150m in commercial-stage or near-commercial-stage healthcare products, but it also open to co-investment opportunities to fund larger transactions.

Company
Founded in 2010, Cardiorentis acquired CardioPep Pharma the same year. It develops treatments for heart failure and related cardiovascular diseases, particularly Ularitide for the treatment of acute heart failure. Its disease-based technology platform combines protein biology and small molecule design of compounds and peptides for markets with unmet medical needs.

People
Johannes Holzmeister is the CEO of Cardiorentis. Clarke Futch is founding managing director at HC Royalty.

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