Interius Biotherapeutics Inc., which just closed on an oversubscribed $76 million series A financing, is fixed on simplifying CAR T-cell creation by making the process less cumbersome, less expensive and time consuming, and all done in vivo.
Less than a year after Novartis AG's acquisition of optogenetics specialist Vedere Bio Inc., its successor Vedere Bio II Inc. is launching with $77 million in series A financing, led by Octagon Capital. The company will develop earlier-stage assets than those Novartis purchased, including new, mutation-agnostic optogenetics technology to improve upon current gene therapies aimed at restoring functional vision to people with vision loss due to photoreceptor death.
LONDON – Technology commercialization specialist Eurekare SA has arrived on the scene after raising a $60 million series A, with which it plans to seed fund the formation of microbiome and synthetic biology startups and invest in later-stage rounds of companies specializing in those two fields.
Soteria Biotherapeutics Inc., a company developing switchable bispecific T-cell engagers to treat patients with solid tumors, has raised $42 million in series A financing to fund early development of a pipeline of candidates with potential in validated cancer targets, it said. Roche Venture Fund and 5AM Ventures led the round, with further investments from M Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund and Alexandria Venture Investments.
Juno Diagnostics Inc. raised $25 million in a series A financing led by Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund. The company has earmarked the funds to support clinical validation studies of the company’s noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) solutions. The proceeds will also go toward product development and commercial launch of its NIPT products.
Flare Therapeutics Inc. emerged from stealth mode with $82 million in series A financing and an ambitious agenda to systematically drug transcription factors associated with cancer and other neurological, genetic and immunological conditions.
Appia Bio Inc. raised $52 million in a series A funding round to bring forward a novel take on allogeneic cell therapy for cancer, based on a rare lymphocyte population, invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells, which exhibit aspects of both NK cell and T-cell biology.
The allocation of capital to the build-out of next-generation gene therapies continues apace. Dyno Therapeutics Inc., a leader in applying artificial intelligence to advanced capsid engineering, raised $100 million in a series A round to fund its expansion and that of its Capsidmap platform.
Sporos Bioventures LLC closed a $38.1 million series A financing to develop a pipeline of therapies for treating cancer and immune diseases through four companies with a business structure that its chief financial officer, Michael Wyzga, described as a hub-and-spoke model that leans on diversification.
Neuroelectrics Inc. garnered $17.5 million in a series A fundraising round led by the Morningside Group of Hong Kong. The Cambridge, Mass. and Barcelona-based brain stimulation company plans to use the funds primarily to advance its pivotal trial of the Starstim system in refractory focal epilepsy and its at-home feasibility study in refractory major depressive disorder and related infrastructure, Neuroelectrics co-founder and CEO Ana Maiques told BioWorld. Supportive infrastructures for the trials include brain modeling, the platform for remote montage delivery, and clinical and regulatory resources.