Antibiotic play Macrolide raises $20M, names Karande CEO

Macrolide Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Watertown, Mass.) raised $20 million on Monday in a venture round led by existing investors Advent Life Sciences, Gurnet Point Capital, Novartis Venture Fund, Roche Ventures and SR One. The antibiotic company also hired Mahesh Karande as president and CEO. He was VP and general manager at Intarcia Therapeutics Inc. (Boston, Mass.).

Macrolide is using its synthetic chemistry platform to develop a pipeline of IV and oral macrolides from scratch with improved efficacy against drug-resistant Gram-negative pathogens than macrolides derived from natural products. The company said the funds will help support work towards an IND submission for its lead program, but did not disclose details...