Start-Ups & SMEs
Emerging Company Profile: The Maryland-based biotech is working on a functional cure for type 1 diabetes that is similar to Vertex’s VX-880 – but with some key differences.
Data from Evaluate show that biopharma venture capital investment fell from $7.95bn in Q2 to $6.59bn in Q3, but both outpaced every quarter in 2023 as the financial market recovery continues.
Purespring has just raised $105m from an investor syndicate who are betting it can develop the first gene therapy for kidney disease and learn from setbacks experienced in the space.
Emerging from ARCH, City Therapeutics has launched with $135m in series A funding and the Alnylam founder as its executive chairman.
Judo Bio, incubated for three years by Atlas Venture to deliver siRNA and other genetic medicines to the kidney, came out of stealth mode with $100m and new CEO Rajiv Patni.
The Swedish company is well positioned, and well financed with a bit of help from the French major, to push its idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis hopeful buloxibutid closer to the regulatory finishing line.
Private Company Edition: ARCH raised more than $3bn for its eighth fund, Frazier added $630m to its public fund that also can back crossover rounds, DCVC’s third biotech fund totaled $400m and Asabys raised €180m ($200m) for its second fund. Also, Aktis closed a $175m series B round.
An upfront payment of $110m from BMS has come just in time for Prime Medicine, but its real test will be the first Phase I data, expected early next year.
Emerging Company Profile: Danish group Vesper Bio is advancing an oral sortilin inhibitor in frontotemporal dementia, and is aiming to get to market in a similar timeframe to its much larger rivals.
Private Company Edition: Vicebio plans to take a combo vaccine into Phase I with its $100m series B venture capital round. Also, Nura Bio raised $68m to boost its series A total to $141m and George Church-founded GC Therapeutics launched with $75m, among other recent VC deals.
MBX, Zenas and Bicara delivered positive returns in their first days of trading, but that has not always translated to good long-term results for drug developers that launched US IPOs this year.
Private Company Edition: Bain will invest across private and public drug, device, diagnostic and tool companies. Also, Candid debuted with $370m in initial funding, Superluminal closed a $120m series A round, PanTera raised €93m ($102.4m) in series A cash and F2G brought in $100m.
ArsenalBio closed one of the largest VC rounds so far in 2024, raising $325m in series C funding, while Vaxcyte grossed $1.3bn in a follow-on offering. Also, Circle Pharma closed a $90m series D round and Jazz priced an $850m note sale, but IN8bio revealed a prioritization plan and job cuts.
HAYA, a pioneer in lncRNA, is teaming up with Lilly to discover novel targets and programmable RNA therapies for obesity and metabolic disorders.
Oncology is key to the German group’s turnaround plans and an early-stage licensing pact with NextRNA is the first cancer deal by its new business development leader.
The big pharma’s second selection in the alliance shows novel cardiovascular therapies are high on its priority list
BridgeBio spun out oncology assets in May to focus on rare diseases and now it has sliced off a few rare disease candidates for GondolaBio. Also, Avidity and Kymera closed follow-on offerings that grossed $345.1m and $225m, respectively, and Vandria extended its series A round to $30.7m.
With $150m in series A funding, the Versant- and Novartis-backed start-up is betting it can overcome the challenges to getting RNA medicines into the kidney.
The start-up launched last year with Phase III-ready upacicalcet, which has nearly completed two pivotal trials in secondary hyperparathyroidism and for which it has exclusive rights outside of Asia.
Emerging Company Profile: Backed by Flagship Pioneering, Empress deploys its Chemilogics platform to seek leads for small molecule therapies in inflammation, immunology, cancer and metabolic disease.