Having cast around for other routes, Histogen Inc. is throwing in the towel, its board having adopted a shutdown plan that includes the distribution of remaining cash to stockholders after a wind-down of operations. One of the company’s West Coast peers, Kinnate Biopharma Inc., had news, too. The firm disclosed the layoff of 70% of its workforce, including all employees at the Shanghai-based subsidiary Kinnjiu Biopharma Inc., leaving the outfit with 28 full timers.
Magnet Biomedicine Inc. emerged from stealth mode and pulled down a $50 million series A round co-led by founding investor Newpath Partners alongside Arch Venture Partners. The firm is advancing molecular glue discovery by way of rational selection and design, looking past known protein-protein interactions and what Magnet calls “tangential” degradation approaches to analyze the broader protein landscape and ultimately pair targets with rationally chosen presenters in the tissue where the disease manifests.
Israeli startup Briya Ltd. raised $11.5 million in series A financing which will support the expansion of its health care data exchange platform across Europe and the U.S. The round was led by Team8, and included existing investors Insight Partners, and Amiti Ventures, and was joined by the George Kaiser Family Foundation.
Stimvia s.r.o. (previously Tesla Medical s.r.o.) is in the process of securing $10 million in investment in a series A financing round that will allow the company to conduct a pivotal clinical study addressing overactive bladder, using Uris, its neuromodulation system, CEO Lukas Doskocil told BioWorld.
In the daunting shadow of previous years’ numbers, two companies jumped into this year’s relatively tepid IPO market. Rayzebio Inc. priced its upsized $311 million IPO of 17.2 million shares at $18 each. Gross proceeds of about $290.1 million are expected by the radiopharmaceutical cancer therapy developer. On Sept. 15, shares (NASDAQ:RYZB) closed up 33.3% at $24 each. Also, Neumora Therapeutics Inc. priced its IPO of 14.7 million shares at $17 each, looking for gross proceeds of about $250 million. The company, which is developing seven products targeting brain diseases, saw shares (NASDAQ:NMRA) close 4.4% downward at $16.25 on Sept. 15.