EIT Pharma Raises $35M Series A for Lonafarnib

EIT Pharma has closed an oversubscribed $35 million Series A to support the next stage of a late-stage antiviral program that outlived its original corporate owner. The financing, announced on August 31, was led by Propel Bio Partners, with participation from Good Ventures, Arrowtown, and other investors.

The round arrives weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration accepted EIT Pharma's New Drug Application for lonafarnib for the treatment of chronic hepatitis D. Acceptance means the application is complete enough for agency review. It does not mean the drug has been approved, and lonafarnib remains investigational for this indication.

That distinction matters because EIT Pharma is not funding a conventional discovery story. It is financing the regulatory, manufacturing, and organizational work required to move an already studied asset toward a potential commercial future.

A Series A built around a rescued program

EIT Pharma acquired the lonafarnib program from Eiger BioPharmaceuticals through a bankruptcy sale in 2024. A Securities and Exchange Commission filing recorded a $5.2 million purchase price for the lonafarnib assets and another $1 million for the peginterferon lambda program. The buyer, then called Eiger InnoTherapeutics, later adopted the EIT Pharma name.

The transaction created an unusual starting point for a Series A company. EIT Pharma did not begin with a blank research slate. It inherited clinical data, regulatory history, manufacturing obligations, and the responsibility to preserve continuity after the prior company failed.

According to the company's financing announcement, the new capital will support the FDA review process, manufacturing and commercial readiness subject to approval, pipeline development, and general operations. That makes the round an execution bet: investors are backing the institution required to carry the science through its next handoffs.

Lonafarnib is already under FDA review

EIT Pharma said on August 11 that the FDA had accepted the lonafarnib NDA for chronic hepatitis D. The application is supported by D-LIVR, a completed Phase 3 study listed on ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT03719313.

The company describes D-LIVR as the largest clinical trial conducted in chronic hepatitis D, involving more than 400 participants across 21 countries. The trial evaluated lonafarnib-based regimens in people with chronic infection. The regulatory review will determine whether the submitted evidence supports approval; the financing does not change that evidentiary standard.

Hepatitis D occurs in people who are also infected with hepatitis B. The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 12 million people globally have hepatitis D and describes chronic hepatitis D as the most severe form of chronic viral hepatitis because of its rapid progression toward liver-related death and liver cancer. That burden gives the program meaningful clinical stakes, but it does not remove the remaining regulatory and operational risk.

Propel's role extends beyond the cap table

The lead-investor relationship is part of the story. Leen Kawas is both EIT Pharma's chief executive and a co-founder and Managing General Partner of Propel Bio Partners. Xue Hua is EIT Pharma's Chief Development Officer and a Managing Partner at Propel. Their current roles are listed by Propel Bio Partners and EIT Pharma's leadership page.

That overlap may give the company concentrated experience in drug development, financing, and company building. It also means the sponsor-management relationship should be visible when readers assess the round. The disclosed facts do not establish misconduct or determine whether the financing terms reflect independent price discovery. They show that the lead investor and operating team are closely connected and that performance will need to validate the model.

The financing release also names Good Ventures and Arrowtown as participants, along with other investors it does not identify. No allocation, valuation, ownership percentage, or board changes were disclosed. Those omissions limit any attempt to infer the round's pricing or governance structure.

The next risk is operational continuity

The scientific asset has already survived one corporate collapse. EIT Pharma must now demonstrate that a new organization can preserve the accumulated work while meeting the demands of regulatory review, manufacturing preparation, and potential commercialization.

Those tasks are less visible than a discovery milestone, but they are decisive. FDA review can generate questions that require rapid analysis and coordinated responses. Manufacturing readiness requires reliable processes, controls, and supply planning. Commercial preparation must remain conditional on approval while still beginning early enough to support a launch if the application succeeds.

EIT Pharma also maintains other infectious-disease programs, including peginterferon lambda. Its programs page notes that the lambda chronic-hepatitis-D program is on FDA clinical hold. The Series A therefore supports a portfolio with different regulatory positions rather than a collection of uniformly de-risked assets.

What the $35 million needs to prove

For EIT Pharma, the central question is no longer whether lonafarnib can attract another corporate home. It has one. The question is whether the company can turn inherited clinical and regulatory work into a durable operating capability.

The milestones to watch are practical: progress during FDA review, evidence of manufacturing readiness, disciplined preparation for a potential launch, and clear communication about the relationship between EIT Pharma and Propel Bio Partners. Any approval decision will belong to the FDA, and no outcome is guaranteed.

The broader signal extends beyond one drug. Biotech assets do not always disappear when their original companies fail. Bankruptcy sales can preserve clinical programs, but only if a buyer can rebuild the institutional continuity around them. EIT Pharma's $35 million Series A is capital for that reconstruction. The coming review will show whether the rescued molecule and the new company can cross the next threshold together.