Latus Bio Inc. has launched with a focus on developing novel gene therapy candidates for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. An initial close of $54 million in series A financing will support the company.

Accession Therapeutics Ltd. has raised £25 million (US$31.3 million) to fund it through the generation of the first clinical data for its lead product, TROCEPT-01 (ATTR-01), and completion of IND-enabling studies for a second program. The internal early-stage pipeline will also be progressed.

Revopsis Therapeutics Inc. has closed its first seed funding round, raising $16.5 million that will fund the completion of ongoing IND-enabling studies with its lead candidate, RO-104, for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). Developed using the company’s proprietary Rev-Mod platform, RO-104 is a potentially first-in-class fully human modular trispecific biologic.

In one of the biggest startups ever, Xaira Therapeutics has launched with more than $1 billion from investors. The financing, according to BioWorld records, is roughly equivalent to Roivant Sciences Inc.’s $1.1 billion raise in August 2017 and Galderma Inc.’s $1 billion private placement in June 2023. Xaira said it plans to leverage advanced machine learning research and expansive data generation to power new models for developing new therapeutics.

Newco Outrun Therapeutics Ltd. has raised $10 million in a seed round to develop small-molecule E3 ubiquitin ligase inhibitors that prevent programmed protein degradation. The lead program targeting an E3 ligase that tags a tumor suppressor protein for destruction will now advance to preclinical development.

On the heels of a $4.6 million series A round in December 2023, cell therapy company Rxcell Inc. is planning to raise another $15 million in 2024 to take its iPSC-derived photoreceptors to the clinic for retinitis pigmentosa and other degenerative diseases of the retina.

Alterome Therapeutics Inc. has closed a $132 million series B financing to support the advancement of its pipeline of next-generation, small-molecule targeted cancer therapies into the clinic, including a highly specific AKT1 E17K inhibitor and a KRAS selective inhibitor.

One of the building blocks for newly launched Clasp Therapeutics Corp. is making the right patient choices for treatment. If those who receive the company’s therapy are correctly identified, CEO Robert Ross told BioWorld, it will have a profound effect on outcomes. The missing link in cancer treatment, Ross added, was how to identify a patient, something he said Clasp is able to do.

Cancer Focus Fund LP, an investment fund established in collaboration with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, is investing $4.5 million to support a first-in-human trial of Eisbach Bio GmbH’s lead candidate, EIS-12656.