Kriya is advancing a host of gene therapies for a wide variety of chronic diseases, including geographic atrophy, trigeminal neuralgia and type 1 diabetes.
Kriya Therapeutics has raised $313.3 million in a funding round that the North Carolina–based gene therapy maker disclosed Friday in an SEC filing.
The regulatory document did not specify what the funds will be used for, nor did it identify the sources of the funding, only stating that two investors participated in the financing push. Friday’s haul adds to a $100 million series B raise in July 2021, a $270 million series C round in May 2022, which it extended by $150 million in July 2023.
Kriya is advancing a pipeline of single-dose gene therapies for a variety of chronic conditions. Its most advanced asset is KRIYA-825, which has cleared IND-enabling studies and is poised to enter clinical testing for geographic atrophy (GA). The asset expresses a protein that disrupts the complement cascade, which have been implicated in the development and progression of GA. Kriya is specifically designed the gene therapy to be administered in-office via an injection into the eye.
Also in development is KRIYA-748, a gene therapy that expresses an engineered ion channel that can cut the rate and severity of pain attacks in patients with trigeminal neuralgia. Aside from GA and trigeminal neuralgia, Kriya is working on programs for thyroid eye disease and focal epilepsy, as well as metabolic diseases such as type 1 diabetes and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).
Kriya is playing in the embattled gene therapy space, which in recent months has been battered by strong regulatory and clinical headwinds. Just last week, for instance, the FDA narrowed the coverage of bluebird’s Skysona to now only include patients with cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy who have no other treatment options after detecting an elevated risk of blood cancer associated with the gene therapy. That follows the ongoing saga facing Sarepta Therapeutics and its Duchenne muscular therapy treatment Elevidys, which was linked to two patient deaths that led the FDA to request shipments be halted temporarily.
With its raise on Monday, Kriya ranks among the biggest funding rounds in biopharma this year, a list topped by Isomorphic Labs, which brought in $600 million in March. Also coming ahead of Kriya are Verdiva Bio and Pathos AI, which hauled $411 million in January and $365 million in May, respectively. Biotech unicorn Eikon Therapeutics raised $351 million in February, just slightly surpassing Kriya’s proceeds.
