cAMPfield Therapeutics launched with a $180 million Series A round to develop prifemilast, an oral anti-inflammatory candidate for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The company is positioning prifemilast as an alternative to biologics by inhibiting PDE4, emphasizing selectivity for PDE4B over PDE4D to reduce dose-limiting adverse effects. The program traces back to vTv Therapeutics, which licensed it to Newsoara Biopharma for China and parts of Asia before expanding rights; cAMPfield secured additional rights outside China. cAMPfield said the early evidence in psoriasis supported its broader anti-inflammatory rationale, including tolerability and discontinuation rates comparable to placebo in the referenced dataset. The company assembled an experienced founding team including Asit Parikh (formerly Takeda) and other former executives connected to IBD programs such as Entyvio, Otezla, and Zeposia, reflecting a focus on accelerating clinical translation in IBD. For the sector, the funding highlights continuing investor appetite for oral IBD drugs that can achieve remission with manageable safety profiles, especially as investors evaluate competitiveness against established biologic and small-molecule regimens.