Novo Ventures said on Tuesday that it has led the USD55m Series B financing in NodThera, a UK and US based clinical stage biotechnology company developing a new class of medicines to treat diseases driven by chronic inflammation.

A part of Novo Holdings, Novo Ventures led the round which also included new investors Cowen Healthcare Investments and Sanofi Ventures, as well as existing investors 5AM Ventures, Epidarex Capital, F-Prime Capital and Sofinnova Partners.

Upon completion of the financing, Nanna Lüneborg, Partner at Novo Ventures, will join the NodThera board.

The financing will be used to advance NodThera's pipeline of small molecule NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors, including continued progression of lead candidate NT-0167 through clinical development and further progress the development of additional compounds -- including brain-penetrant NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors for central nervous system indications and continued drug discovery efforts.