Bridge Biotherapeutics Inc., a clinical stage biotech headquartered in Seongnam, South Korea announced that the company closed a KRW 31 billion (US$ 27.2 million) series C round of venture financing to enable the company to advance pipelines to next stages. The company’s series C funding primarily led by UTC Investment Co., and Shinhan Investment Corp. to accelerate the internal drug discovery of 2nd generation Pellino-1 inhibitor and clinical development of its clinical assets; BBT-401, a potent first-in-class drug candidate for ulcerative colitis treatment and BBT-877, a potent best-in-class drug candidate for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The Korea Development Bank, UNO Investment and Daewoong Co., Ltd., also joined the series C round. In addition to its two clinical assets, Bridge Biotherapeutics has initiated IND-enabling studies for its newly licensed small molecule targeted therapy against undisclosed target for NSCLC, hoping to submit an IND in the U.S. and Korea by year-end of 2019. “With this newly injected capital, Bridge Biotherapeutics will continue developing development stage assets globally and establishing internal research capabilities of discovering novel next generation Pellino-1 inhibitors for various indications including multiple sclerosis, psoriasis and neurodegenerative diseases,” said James Lee, CEO of Bridge Biotherapeutics. Bridge Biotherapeutics has raised funding more than KRW 60 billion (US$ 53 million) to date. The company has started preparing to go public by enlisting on the KOSDAQ market within the year. # # #