LONDON – A significant body of research indicates inhibition of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (PTP) would reduce neuroinflammation and protect neurons, but the difficulty of finding inhibitors that cross the blood-brain barrier to regulate the pore has left the therapeutic potential largely untapped.
Atavistik Bio Inc. has raised $60 million in a series A financing round to advance its preclinical molecules targeting genetically validated targets in metabolic diseases and cancer.
Gentibio Inc. has raised $157 million to develop its engineered regulatory T cells (Tregs), setting itself a target to cure type 1 diabetes and treat other diseases caused by the immune system. Boston-based Gentibio launched in August last year with $20 million seed funding from Orbimed, Novartis Venture Fund and RA Capital. Those investors stayed on into the next round, which was led by Matrix Capital Management with participation by Avidity Partners and JDRF T1D Fund.
Cell therapy company Zhuhai Grit Biotechnology Inc. completed a series A+ financing of undisclosed value to advance its lead tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) program, GT-101 for advanced solid tumors, into the clinic by year end while also developing other TIL candidates in its pipeline.
LONDON – Hemab ApS has closed a $55 million series A to take forward treatments for bleeding and thrombosis disorders based on antibodies in-licensed from Novo Nordisk A/S, where the newco’s founder, Johan Henrik Faber, previously led hemophilia drug research.
Rivus Pharmaceuticals Inc. has emerged from stealth and disclosed a $35 million series A round to fund development of its pipeline of “controlled metabolic accelerators,” or CMAs, for treating cardiometabolic diseases.
French biotech Pep-Therapy SAS is taking its potentially first-in-class cancer cell penetrating peptide technology into the clinic, after raising €5.4 million (US$6.4 million) in an extended series A funding round. The series A fundraiser initially brought in €2.6 million, but the extension brought in a further €1.6 million in equity from Anaxago, i&i Prague and Badge as well as a €1 million loan from Bpifrance.
Paq Therapeutics Inc. closed a $30 million series A round to take forward a novel approach to the targeted degradation and removal of a wide range of molecular substrates and defective organelles by developing drug molecules that can tap into autophagy, the cell’s general waste disposal and recycling system.
Prime Medicine Inc. (PM) likely has “a lock on prime editing technology for therapeutic uses,” CEO Keith Gottesdiener told BioWorld, though research labs are continuing to refine the approach. Cambridge, Mass.-based PM has $315 million in the bank that will help advance the platform, which behaves like a DNA word processor to search and replace disease-causing genetic sequences at their exact location in the genome.
LONDON – Neuvasq Biotechnologies has launched with a €20 million (US$23.7 million) series A to take forward a new approach to treating neurological disorders by reversing age- or injury-related damage to the blood-brain barrier.
RSS
