MiroBio, a novel therapeutics company based on insights into the regulation of receptor signalling in immune cells, has raised £27m in funding ahead of its launch.

The funding, from a syndicate of international specialist life sciences investors, was co-led by Oxford Sciences Innovation and Samsara Biocapital who were joined by Advent Life Sciences and SR One.

The company says that proceeds from the Series A fundraising will “allow the company to advance its lead programmes, strengthen its proprietary platform, expand its discovery efforts, and build out its management team for the next phase of growth.”

The company is developing proprietary antibodies and variants to stimulate specific immune cell signals, allowing MiroBio to harness the natural control mechanisms of the immune system for therapeutic benefit across a range of diseases. Initially, MiroBio will focus on applications in auto-immune disease, and says it is exploring other applications opportunistically.

In conjunction with the financing, Srini Akkaraju, managing general partner of Samsara Biocapital, Deborah Harland PhD, Partner of SROne, Andrew Mclean, principal of OSI and Shahzad Malik, general partner of Advent Life Sciences, will join the board of directors.

“MiroBio has a robust technology and the ambition to bring new medicines to patients in need of improved therapies,” said Dr Eliot Charles, executive chairman of MiroBio and Venture Partner at SROne.  “To help realise this goal, we have assembled a strong syndicate of leading healthcare investors who have a solid track record of creating successful biotech companies and backing world leading teams like the one we have started to build.”

MiroBio is based at the BioEscalator on the University of Oxford’s Old Road clinical campus.