The company has discontinued a Phase II trial for BG00011, which was acquired in its 2012 Stromedix purchase, due to safety issues.

CEO Michael Gilman, who now helms the company full time, said Arrakis will use its Series B venture capital funding to build a pipeline of drug candidates, primarily in cancer, with the goal of taking its first medicines into the clinic in the next two to three years.

Also, Advicenne doubles its fundraising to date; Michael Gilman-helmed Arrakis raises a $38m Series A; Breath spins out with $46m; and Spero gets $51.7m for novel antibacterials.

Surrozen raised $33m to fund drug development programs targeting Wnt ligands for various indications during a February VC financing flurry that occurred despite a drop in IPOs. Taking an alternative route to going public, some biopharma companies have completed reverse mergers in recent weeks and months.