Investors back new Irish-headquartered company to support its mission, championing accessibility to rare disease medicines.
DUBLIN, IRELAND – MARCH 2026 – Start-up biopharma company Oranda Therapeutics (Oranda) has concluded a start-up funding round, led by Business Venture Partners (BVP), an Irish based multi-asset investment platform. Additional funding has been secured from Integrated Finance Group (IFG) of the United States.
The funding will allow Oranda to pursue its mission of supporting European patients in accessing rare disease medicines. Oranda Co-founder and CEO, Ahmed Al-Derzi, said: “We’re very excited to complete our initial funding round. Oranda is a company that aims to make a meaningful contribution to the lives of those living with rare disease and their families. We are a company founded on innovation, entrepreneurship and agility with a deliberate and purposeful approach to identifying opportunities to broaden access to new and existing rare disease medicines in Europe.”
Elliott Griffin, Managing Director, BVP Investments, said: “With several significant orphan medicines for rare diseases due to lose market exclusivity from 2026 onwards, the opportunity to broaden patient access through more affordable alternatives is both commercially compelling and socially important. Today, fewer than half of approved orphan medicines are available to patients across Europe and that is a gap Oranda is uniquely positioned to address. The Oranda team bring decades of rare disease commercialisation experience, alongside a track record of building and scaling biopharma businesses to a clear, execution-ready plan. We are delighted to back them as they build a best-in-class European rare disease platform.”
Having been granted its first marketing authorisation for nintendanib for the treatment of adults with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and adults with progressive pulmonary fibrosis (PPF) in Germany, the commercial build out of Oranda across Europe is underway. Uwe Mayer joins the Oranda team as General Manager, Germany. Uwe brings 20 years’ leadership experience in rare diseases, commercial strategy and operational excellence. He joins having held senior commercial roles at Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Novartis Gene Therapies. Oranda also recently welcomed Dr Kieran Rooney, formerly of Amryt Pharma, to its board as Non-Executive Director.
John Irwin, Oranda’s Co-founder and CCO, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Uwe and Kieran to the Oranda team; individuals with exceptional track records in medicine commercialisation and biopharma business and corporate development respectively. They join us at a pivotal time as we gain our first marketing authorisation and prepare for our initial product launch in late 2026.”