Life science firm establishing offices in S.C. lands $2M more in funding

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Myconostica, a life science company based in the United Kingdom that is expanding its operations and will open a U.S. headquarters in Charleston, has closed on an additional $2 million in financing.

UMIP Premier Fund, which was founded in April, made the investment. It is focused on investments in University of Manchester spin-out firms.

Myconostica ended up closing on $10.8 million in funding.

Nexus Medical Partners, a venture firm with an office in Charleston, led the oversubscribed “C” round of financing. Nexus is one of four firms that receives support from South Carolina’s S.C. Venture Capital Act.

Myconostica is a spinout from the University of Manchester in the U.K. It is developing treatments based on genetic signatures, a concept the company calls “molecular diagnostics.” The firm believes its treatments will be able to treat multiple fungi in one process.

One of the targets for Myconostica is fungal pneumonia, which is the leading cause of infectious death in leukemia and after bone marrow transplantation and also often occurs in people afflicted with AIDS.

“We have succeeded in attracting leading international investors in the sector who know we can only succeed commercially by making a real difference medically,” said Jerel Whittingham, chief executive officer at Myconostica. “Myconostica’s success in this oversubscribed fund-raising is a tremendous endorsement of both our rapid progress to date and of our commercial prospects”.

Also investing inn the round were Innoven Partenaires, which is based in France, and Amphion Innovations.

Myconostica also plans to establish a clinical relationship with the Medical University of South Carolina.