OMass Therapeutics, a biotechnology company spun out of Oxford University, has raised $310 million in a series C funding round, marking the second-largest European private biotech financing this year. The round was co-led by new investors Bain Capital Life Sciences, Forbion, and Novo Holdings, the largest shareholder of Novo Nordisk. Existing backers including SV Health Investors, Syncona, Oxford Science Enterprises, and the British Business Bank also participated.

Founded in 2016 and based on pioneering research by co-founder Dame Carol Robinson, who remains an observer on the company’s board, OMass Therapeutics focuses on developing treatments for endocrine and immunological diseases. Robinson’s work on applying mass spectrometry to study the three-dimensional structure of proteins laid the foundation for the company’s drug discovery platform.

The new funding will support advancing OMass’s lead candidate through phase II clinical trials targeting congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), a genetic disorder affecting hormone production by the adrenal glands. Additional resources will be allocated to earlier-stage programs, including generating initial clinical data for a treatment aimed at lupus and other diseases linked to overproduction of interferon proteins.

Ros Deegan, chief executive officer since 2019 and a former government adviser with experience at GSK, said the company has demonstrated its ability to develop a pipeline of first-in-class and best-in-class therapies for endocrinology and immunology. She highlighted the investment round as a key step enabling the company to progress toward delivering clinically differentiated medicines to patients.

OMass intends to report phase I clinical data next year before initiating more extensive phase II trials. The company operates a site at the ARC Oxford campus and maintains a subsidiary in the United States, where it has also appointed a head of clinical development. Deegan emphasized the importance of the U.S. market for OMass’s future plans and indicated that if the company chooses to pursue a public listing, it would likely target the Nasdaq, which has become a popular venue for European biotech firms seeking broader capital access.

This funding round follows the significant $2.1 billion raised in May by Isomorphic Labs, a London-based AI drug discovery firm. Together, these financings underscore the growing investor interest in biotech companies leveraging advanced technologies and university research to address unmet medical needs.