VentureBeat

Princeton, N.J.’s Tobira Therapeutics, a newly formed biotech aiming to take on HIV, raised an impressive $31 million in a first funding round. Domain Associates and Frazier Healthcare Ventures led the round, joined by Montreux Equity Partners and Canaan Partners.

Tobira also named James Sapirstein, a former Serono VP with previous experience at Gilead Sciences, Bristol-Myers Squibb and other AIDS-drug makers, as its first CEO.

Tobira’s lead compounds were both in-licensed from Takeda Pharmaceutical of Japan. Both interfere with the CCR5 receptor, one of two “doorways” that HIV uses to gain entry to T-cells. The funding will let Tobira take its first candidate, TAK-652, through mid-stage human testing, the company said.