Expansion Therapeutics Inc., a company developing new drugs for severe RNA-mediated diseases based on the work of its scientific founder, Scripps Research chemistry professor Matthew Disney, has raised $80 million in a series B financing to identify and advance oral small-molecule candidates for the potential treatment of myotonic dystrophy type 1, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and tauopathies.
DUBLIN – Treefrog Therapeutics SA closed a $75 million series B round this week, which will help to increase its reach and its profile, as it pursues its highly ambitious objective to drive the adoption of a new way of making induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) at scale. The Bordeaux, France-based firm is not a CDMO in any sense, however. It is a fully fledged biotech, with early stage iPSC-based programs in Parkinson’s disease, cardiovascular disease and bone marrow transplant, among others. It’s just that it is also attempting to revolutionize how those cells are cultivated before it administers them as therapies.
Chicago-based Vanqua Bio Inc. has raised $85 million in series B financing to accelerate development of its therapies tackling Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Founded in 2019, Vanqua’s technology is focused on developing small-molecule activators of glucocerebrosidase, an enzyme that regulates levels of lipids in cells.
Berry Oncology Corp. raised $99.15 million in a series B1 financing round to expand in the early cancer screening industry as it is seeing a growing demand in the sector. This brings the total capital raised to what it says is “the highest level in China’s early cancer screening industry.” The round was led by China Merchants Capital Management Co. Ltd., along with existing investors Qiming Venture Partners and Legend Capital.
Attralus Inc.’s $116 million series B will advance pan-amyloid removal (PAR) therapeutics, putting lead prospect AT-03 into a phase I biodistribution study soon in systemic amyloidosis patients while advancing other programs, including AT-01, an amyloid-specific imaging radiotracer for diagnosis in the same indication.
LONDON – Microbiome specialist Enterobiotix Ltd. closed a $21.5 million series A to advance development of its live bacteria fecal transplant drug pipeline.
Disc Medicine Inc. closed a $90 million series B round to move its two lead assets into clinical trials in patients next year. Bitopertin, an oral inhibitor of glycine transporter 1 (GlyT1), is entering a phase II trial in patients with erythropoietic porphyrias (EPPs), a set of rare genetic disorders caused by mutations that disrupt heme synthesis. Disc-0974, an antibody directed against hemojuvelin, will enter a phase II trial in myelofibrosis patients with transfusion-dependent anemia. The molecule, which Disc Medicine in-licensed from North Chicago-based Abbvie Inc., is currently undergoing a phase I trial in healthy volunteers.
Less than six months after closing a $55 million series A round, Asher Biotherapeutics Inc. has added another $108 million in a series B round to accelerate development of its early stage pipeline of targeted cytokine-based immunotherapies for cancer, autoimmune disease and infection.
Laronde Inc., a company developing a new class of closed-loop RNA constructs for future medicines, has raised $440 million in series B financing. Unfurling at a pivotal moment for RNA-based therapies and vaccines, the company's approach is a bet on early evidence that its "endless" RNA loops can produce stable, enduring and tunable protein expression to fight disease.
DUBLIN – Cardior Pharmaceuticals GmbH has closed a €64 million (US$75 million) series B round, enabling it to move its lead micro-RNA (miRNA) inhibitor program into late-stage development in heart failure. The financing sets the stage for a potential revival of a therapeutic modality that had otherwise fallen out of favor with investors and with big pharma.
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