Rani Therapeutics raises $53m as its robotic pill nears clinical trials

Alphabet-backed Californian start-up Rani Therapeutics has raised $53m in a funding round that included GeneScience Pharmaceuticals and Shire, ahead of planned clinical trials of its robot pill. Marketed as an alternative to injections, Rani's pill makes its way to the small intestine, where it injects medicine into the intestinal wall. CEO Mir Imran said the company expects to move ahead with human clinical trials "within the next year". Rani, which was spun out of InCube Lab in 2012, has raised a total of $142m in funding from investors including Novartis and AstraZeneca.
Rani Therapeutics has raised $53 million to support manufacturing as it gears up for clinical trials of its Rani robotic pill.

New investors like GeneScience Pharmaceuticals and Shire (NSDQ:SHPG) joined existing investors like Alphabet’s GV, Novartis (NYSE:NVS) and AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN). Rani has now raised $142 million in total funding.

Rani is an InCube Lab spin-out that started in 2012. The Rani robotic pill delivers an intestinal injection of medicine without exposing the drugs to digestive enzymes.

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The pharmaceutical industry has long searched for a replacement for drug injections. Needles can be scary, which causes many patients to not take their medication. The Rani robotic pill is being positioned as just that – an alternative to needle-based injections. The Rani robotic pill travels through the stomach and eventually reaches the small intestine, where it injects the drug directly into the intestinal wall.

“The addition of new top tier investors is great validation not only of Rani’s potential, but of the success we’ve already experienced in pre-clinical testing,” founder, chairman & CEO, Mir Imran, said in prepared remarks. “Building on our early achievements, we are now focused on manufacturing the RaniPill in order to move towards our next major milestone of human clinical trials, which we expect to enter within the next year.”

Rani has tapped former global head of manufacturing for Allergan (NYSE:AGN), Ray Diradoorian, to serve as a consultant. The company also brought on Wilfredo Ortiz, who previously worked at Allergan, to take charge of manufacturing operations.

“With this latest funding from key global investors, and the appointment of senior manufacturing executives, Rani couldn’t be better positioned to advance a long-awaited solution for hundreds of millions of chronic disease sufferers,” former Allergan chairman & CEO David Pyott added.