Orbital Therapeutics Inc. raised $270 million in a series A round to fund a big push into the next generation of mRNA-based therapies. The Cambridge, Mass.-based firm is building out a comprehensive RNA platform from which it will launch programs in oncology, autoimmune disease and indications involving protein replacement approaches.
Computational technology and high-quality data will help scientists to improve R&D and find better treatments for human diseases, according to experts at the Wuxi Global Forum 2022.
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.
Flagship Pioneering, the company-creating venture fund that launched Moderna Inc. in 2012, is betting $50 million on a new twist in RNA-focused development at Laronde Inc. Leveraging its explorations of the therapeutic applicability of long non-coding RNA, Flagship CEO Noubar Afeyan said the company has created Endless RNA (eRNA), "a new class of medicines that can be programmed to persistently express therapeutic proteins in the body, at tunable levels."
