From left: Orlaith Ryan and Sharon Cunningham. Image: Shorla
The Ireland and US-based pharma company has been advancing its oncology drugs for orphan and paediatric cancers since it was founded in 2018.
Shorla Oncology, a pharmaceutical company based in Ireland and the US, has raised $35m in a Series B funding round to advance its oncology drugs portfolio.
Established in 2018 by Sharon Cunningham and Orlaith Ryan, Shorla aims to develop a pipeline of oncology drugs for orphan and paediatric cancers. Orphan cancers are those in small populations or with low incidence rate, where existing treatments are limited, in shortage or the drug applications are inadequate for the target population.
The latest round of funding was led by Kurma Partners’ Growth Opportunities Fund, with participation from existing investors Seroba Life Sciences and Enterprise Ireland. The funding will enable Shorla to accelerate the growth of its oncology portfolio.
Cunningham, Shorla’s CEO, said the investment will underpin the advancement and commercialisation of the company’s oncology drugs, “ensuring we continue to deliver on our mission of bringing promising treatments to patients around the globe”.
Daniel Parera, MD and partner at Kurma Partners, which led the funding round, said the firm is excited to support Shorla’s growth which will help address shortcomings in patient care and improve outcomes.
“In particular, the team has shown impressive agility in identifying unmet needs and in operational execution. This matches very well with our focus and expertise as a growth fund to support the scale-up of emerging champions of the European healthcare and life science ecosystem,” he added.
Earlier this year, the pharma start-up scored a huge win in gaining approval for its leukaemia drug from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), two years after it first sought FDA approval.
The drug, Nelarabine Injection, is designed to treat T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) and T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LBL), an aggressive blood and bone marrow cancer that progresses quickly and is more common in children.
Parera said the company’s FDA approval is “a testament to its capabilities for bringing differentiated formulations of life-changing medications to the market”.
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