Histogenics Gets $49 Million for Tissue Regeneration—and Recapitalization

Xconomy – Histogenics, a regenerative medicine company based in Waltham, MA, has closed $49 million in new financing led by Sofinnova Ventures.

The deal is being called a Series A financing round for the company. According to our records, however, Histogenics has raised more than $40 million in equity and debt funding since 2008. The company started back in 2000 and acquired ProChon BioTech in a stock deal last year. Today’s financing is a traditional recapitalization, not a restart, according to a company spokesperson.

Histogenics is in the middle of clinical trials for its lead product candidate, called NeoCart. This is a tissue implant that uses a patient’s own cells to grow cartilage outside the body for the purpose of repairing cartilage lesions in the knee. The company has another product candidate, called VeriCart, that uses a tissue-engineering approach involving stem cells and a collagen scaffold to repair cartilage defects. That product is slated for the European market, pending regulatory clearance.

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