Intradigm lands $18.5M to advance oncology treatment

Intradigm, a biotech company that develops RNA interference treatments for cancer, announced today that it took $18.5 million in a second round of financing that included new investors Lilly Ventures, Roche Venture Fund, MP Healthcare Venture Management, and existing investors Alta Partners, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, MediBic Alliance Technology Fund and Novartis Venture Fund.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company has developed an RNA interference therapy for cancer, as well as a mode for delivering it to the right parts of the body. That delivery system is what distinguishes Intradigm from its competitors, includng Sirna Therapeutics Inc., which continues to administer RNA interference therapies locally. It will use this new round of funds to forge partnerships that could move technology and testing forward. It hopes to have a treatment enter the clinical phase of testing by 2010.