VLST Corporation, of Seattle, Washington, announced that it has raised $55 million in Series B financing. The financing was led by Texas Pacific Group Ventures and included existing investors MPM Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, OVP Venture Partners, and Amgen Ventures, as well as new investors MedImmune Ventures Inc and WRF Capital, the venture investment arm of the Washington Research Foundation. This financing, to be provided in three stages based on company progress, is expected to provide sufficient resources to advance a lead product candidate for an as yet unnamed indication through a phase II clinical trial, and bring two additional programs to IND filings.

The VLST platform uses novel bioinformatics and state-of-the-art proteomics to identify viral genes whose protein products function as immunomodulatory agents. The resulting product candidates will be either human homologues of these virulence factors or monoclonal antibodies that mimic the function of the virulence gene products. Utilizing this platform, VLST has identified multiple novel product candidates for the treatment of disorders such as lupus, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes.

—A. Techman