‘We are proud to be in the lead’: Vaderis lands $152M for phase 3 study in rare blood vessel disorder

Biotech ‘We are proud to be in the lead’: Vaderis lands $152M for phase 3 study in rare blood vessel disorder By Marissa Russo Aug 10, 2026 1:44pm series B Blood vessel Switzerland vascular disease Vaderis Therapeutics has secured an oversubscribed $152 million series B financing to propel the Swiss biotech's AKT inhibitor through phase 3 with the aim of bringing the first treatment for a rare blood vessel disorder to market. The Basel-based company has just launched the late-stage study to evaluate the once-daily oral drug, called engasertib, in patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT). There are currently no approved therapies for the rare genetic vascular disorder, which affects one in every 3,800 people, according to Vaderis.

Patients with HHT experience frequent, and often debilitating, nosebleeds, as well as small red spots on the lips, tongue, skin or mouth, and anemia. The disorder is caused by congenital vascular anomalies. “Those vessels are fragile and they rupture,” Vaderis' Chief Scientific Officer Pierre Saint-Mezard, Ph.D., told Fierce.

“When they are in the mucosa, like in the nasal mucosa or the [gastrointestinal] mucosa, this leads to heavy bleeding and anemia.” As well as funding the recently launched phase 3 study, Vaderis also plans to conserve some of the fresh funds to support an approval push to the FDA and other regulators. Today's series B was led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives and TCGX, with new backers like Omega Funds, EQT Life Sciences, Perceptive Advisors and Kalehua Capital joining previous investors Medicxi and Droia. Vaderis—which, as well as its Swiss headquarters, has an outpost in Lincolnshire, Illinois—was set up in 2019 with a mission to develop treatments for rare vascular disease.

The company went on to raise over 18 million Swiss francs (over $22 million) in 2020. By 2024, Vaderis was touting phase 1 data that the company claimed showed engasertib was both safe and reduced the frequency of nosebleeds in patients with HHT. “We have ...

the most advanced molecule with long-term data, which is very unique in this space,” Vaderis CEO Azmi Nabulsi, M.D., told Fierce. “We are paving the way, not only for us but for everyone else, and the investors were very pleased on these pieces coming together.” Engasertib is a selective allosteric inhibitor of AKT1 and AKT2, which normalizes abnormal angiogenesis, a process that leads to arteriovenous malformations. The drug has shown that complete inhibition of the signaling pathway is not needed, according to Saint-Mezard.

Instead, “50 to 80% inhibition is sufficient to achieve maximal efficacy,” he explained. “That is very important, because if you push those higher, you will have on-target side effects like rashes or hyperglycemia.” The race to get treatments approved for HHT is beginning to heat up. Following behind Vaderis is Massachusetts-based Diagonal Therapeutics, which recently started dosing patients in a phase 1 study of DIAG723, a bispecific antibody designed to cluster key extracellular receptors to restore ALK1 signaling.

Meanwhile, Atavistik Bio kicked off a phase 1/2 trial last month in partnership with the Cure HHT clinical trial network to assess an oral allosteric AKT1-selective inhibitor for HHT. Vaderis' CEO Nabulsi said the company is “proud to be in the lead, but also very pleased with others coming in.” “We will have more optionality for patients at the end of the day,” Nabulsi added. series B Blood vessel Switzerland vascular disease Venture Capital Biotech