Aer Therapeutics, a joint University College Dublin (UCD) and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) spin-out company, has raised $36m (€32.6m) in series A funding.

The biopharmaceutical company develops novel inhaled treatments for muco-obstructive lung diseases.

Proceeds from the recent financing round will be used to advance the development of its AER-01 drug.

This is designed to liquefy mucus plugs in the lungs of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Participants in the recent funding round included Canaan, OrbiMed and Hatteras Venture Partners.

Aer Therapeutics, which is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, plans to launch its first in-human Phase 1 clinical trial of the novel inhaled drug in the coming months.

The company was co-founded in 2014 by UCSF Professor John Fahy, who originally hails from Dublin, and Professor Stefan Oscarson from UCD’s School of Chemistry.

The pair also worked in collaboration with Professor Anne Marie Healy’s pharmaceutical laboratory at Trinity College Dublin to develop AER-01.

“Our scientific founders led the pioneering research that uncovered mucus plugs as a key mechanism of disease in COPD, and their laboratories worked together to discover AER-01 as a novel mucolytic treatment,” said president and chief executive Jim Shaffer.

“Aer will continue to leverage this expertise in the development of AER-01 and other therapeutic candidates for the treatment of muco-obstructive lung diseases.”

The company estimates that around five million COPD patients in the United States have a mucus plug-high subtype of the disease, while existing treatments, such as bronchodilators or supplemental oxygen, do not tackle the airway obstruction caused by the plugs.