Money on the Move: November 3 – 9
Investors are lighting up the season already for these biotechs, now flush with cash to spend. Here's who snagged funding this week.
With the industry’s “most extensive” gene-editing toolbox, Arbor seriously upped the ante from its modest $15.6 Series A round, raising an oversubscribed B coming in at $215 million. Arbor’s tech moves beyond the groundbreaking Cas9 to utilize smaller molecules that can manipulate both DNA and RNA. Moving toward the clinic, its first candidate will target the liver. An IND filing is slated for 2023, with hopes for a trial the following year. The company also hopes to takcle the challenge of bringing CRISPR tools to the central nervous system, treating the untreatable Huntington’s disease.
bit.bio
Transitioning biology to engineering by bringing the coding thought process to human cells, bit.bio is accelerating a new generation of medicines. Its proprietary cell coding technology, opti-ox, enables unlimited batches of human cells to be manufactured by reprogramming of stem cells. Last week’s $103 million Series B round will funnel into further development of opti-ox, as well as support the growth of the company's product portfolio. bit.bio already has two R&D products launched for glutamatergic neurons and skeletal myocytes.
Clade Therapeutics
From CRISPR Therapeutics and Sana Biotechnology, Harvard’s Chad Cowan is leading a new team to solve the issues of stem cell transplant therapies. The immune system’s response to foreign cells, even curative ones, can stop cancer treatments from working effectively. With $87 million in Series A funding, Cowan’s team at Clade is working to cloak engineered stem cells, hiding them from the immune system to overcome those limitations.
This Cambridge-based newbie was launched with $80 million from Advanced Technology Products (ATP) to fight cancer with T cells. Marengo’s Selective T Cell Activation Repertoire selectively boosts anti-tumor T cells by targeting Vβ T cell receptor (TCR) variants to promote long-term cancer protection. Currently, less than a third of patients experience a durable response to immuno-oncology treatments due to dysfunctional T cell responses. Targeting advanced and metastatic solid tumors, lead candidate STAR0602 is expected in the clinic by late 2022.
PlateletBio
With a fresh $75.5 million in Series B funds, PlateletBio is expanding its engineered platelet-like cell platform and advancing manufacturing capabilities for new allogeneic cell therapies. Its lead candidate is in preclinical development for Immune Thrombocytopenia (ITP), an autoimmune disease. The round saw support from existing investors Ziff Capital Partners and Qiming Venture Partners in addition to a few new investors.
Antios Therapeutics
East coast neighbor Antios Therapeutics also scooped up a $75 million Series B. Funds will be used to advance Antios’ lead Phase IIb asset, AT-2173, targeted at chronic Hepatitis B. Pre-clinical studies showed the drug alone and in combination with a current approved treatment sustained HBV DNA suppression off treatment. The once-daily regimen has the potential to transform the lives of millions of HBV-infected patients.
Parthenon Therapeutics
This startup snagged a $65 million Series A round for its novel class of anti-cancer therapies. By reprogramming the tumor microenvironment, Parthenon hopes to improve survival rates for the greatest number of cancer patients. The company published a paper in Nature supporting its PRTH-101 program as a potential therapy for a broad range of cancers.
Sanofi is helping this London-based biotech maintain its velocity with a $60 million commitment. With an eye on ocular gene therapies, Gyroscope’s lead candidate has the potential to be the first for geographic atrophy, a disease with no approved treatment that’s left 5 million across the globe losing sight. The candidate has been granted Fast Track designation by the FDA and is already in Phase II clinical trials. Sanofi is plopping down $40 million now, with $20 million in the queue to be invested subject to certain closing conditions.
Prilenia
Headquartered in the Netherlands, Prilenia has secured $43 million to finance the registration and commercialization of its lead candidate. Pridopidine is a hopeful for approval in patients with Huntington’s disease and ALS. A Phase III trial was recently completed ahead of schedule and with higher enrollment than anticipated. Prilenia will also expand its C-suite with the cash influx.
DeepCure
Three years post-launch, DeepCure closed its Series A round with a tidy $40 million. The Boston biotech is the latest to jump into the AI-powered drug discovery space. With a mission to drug the undruggable, the financing will be used to propel its small molecule pipeline, build an automated robotic wet lab and ramp up global expansion with new sites in Greece in Israel. DeepCure plans to add five oncology programs to its pipeline with the hope that the AI-driven design process and testing will lead to faster cures.
GRO Biosciences
Creating protein-based therapies for chronic disease, GRObio raised $31.2 million in its Series A financing round. Through development of its DuraLogic and ProGly platforms, the focus is on improving therapeutic stability and reducing the immune-linked side effects of protein-based therapeutics. This recent funding will fuel GRObio’s bioprocess manufacturing systems, preclinical studies and IND-enabling studies for its non-standard amino acid protein treatments. Its focus areas include metabolic and autoimmune conditions.