Biograil raises €20m for oral drug-delivery technology

Some medicines need an injection because swallowing the drug does not get enough of it into the body. Biograil is developing a device to change the delivery route.

What happened

Biograil closed a €20 million financing round backed by Verve Ventures, Megatrend Invest and HTGF's Opportunity growth fund. Its BIONDD technology is an oral device intended to deliver therapeutics that would otherwise require injection.

The capital will support preparations for Phase 1 clinical testing, including non-clinical studies and development of a manufacturing process meeting pharmaceutical quality requirements.

Why it matters

The delivery device could open an oral route for medicines that cannot simply be put into a conventional tablet. That makes the engineering of the delivery mechanism part of the drug-development problem.

The bigger picture

The next milestones concern testing and manufacturing. The announcement describes preparation for clinical development, not evidence that the platform has proved safe and effective in patients or received regulatory approval.