Complement Therapeutics Ltd (CTx), a preclinical stage University of Manchester spinout, announced the completion of its EUR 5 million seed financing round from BioGeneration Ventures (BGV) and Forbion, two leading European venture capital firms.

BGV provided the initial seed-funding in early 2021 with both Forbion and BGV now investing additional seed financing.

Built on the pioneering research carried out by its three founders at the University of Manchester, Prof Simon J. Clark, Prof Paul Bishop, and Dr Richard Unwin, the CTx team will focus on addressing unmet needs in complement mediated diseases such as geographic atrophy due to dry age-related macular degeneration, a major cause of vision loss and blindness globally.

The company also announces the appointments of two highly experienced industry executives, Dr Rafiq Hasan as Chief Executive Officer and Dr John Ford as an independent director.

Dr Hasan has pursued a highly successful career in the pharma industry globally, including senior positions in ophthalmology with Bayer and Novartis. Most recently as SVP and Global Head of Ophthalmology at Bayer, Dr Hasan grew the business of Eylea (aflibercept) from launch to over USD 2.5bn in 5 years, including its launch in 5 indications in 3 years.