Photys Therapeutics launched Thursday with $75 million in financing and a focus on developing phosphorylation-inducing chimeric small molecule medicines to target underserved diseases.
Photys Therapeutics launched Thursday with $75 million in financing and a focus on developing phosphorylation-inducing chimeric small molecule medicines (PHICS) paired with specific kinases to target underserved diseases.
PHICS are a new class of bifunctional medicines that direct and repair aberrant and dysfunctional proteins. This new approach enables what the company called “precise phosphorylation,” an important post-translational modification that controls protein function. That includes activation, stabilization, trafficking, inactivation and degradation of the protein. Using this approach, Photys claims it will be able to unlock diverse classes of targets, opening a new approach to treating diseases.
Brian Fenton, chief executive officer of the Boston-based company, noted that the foundational kinases are well-understood. He added that decades of research and screening had produced potent kinase binders. Photys is building on this foundation in hopes of treating cancer and other critical immune, metabolic and rare diseases.
“Modulating protein function is a therapeutic approach to a wide range of diseases. Photys’s technology is a novel way to induce phosphorylation, a key post-translational modification, in therapeutic ways. With PHICS, we can not only restore missing phosphorylations, but also introduce new phosphorylations that can provide therapeutic benefit,” Photys told BioSpace.
“Photys expands this functionality, using PHICS to recruit kinases and induce phosphorylation, a key post-translational modification that controls many protein functions, including activation, stabilization, localization, trafficking, degradation and inactivation.” said Edward Holson, co-founder and chief scientific officer of the company, in a statement.
Photys’ approach was built on research conducted by Dr. Amit Choudhary of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. A company co-founder, Choudhary serves on the scientific advisory board.
The Series A financing round was led by MPM Capital, with additional funding from several others including Omega Funds, Mass General Brigham Ventures, Merck and Eli Lilly.
Photys wasn’t the only company to make a splash Thursday with a Series A financing round.
Wearable Tech for Chronic Vertigo
Washington-based Otolith Labs, which received prior backing from billionaire Mark Cuban, secured $20 million in its Series A round. The company will use the proceeds to support its clinical programs and anticipated regulatory approval of a wearable device designed to help patients suffering from chronic vertigo.
The device was developed using the company’s noninvasive Vestibular System Masking (nVSM) technology. The technology is designed to provide immediate relief of the symptoms associated with chronic vertigo.
The wearable device, which received Breakthrough Device designation from the FDA last year, assists patients through calibrated vibrations that stimulate the vestibular system. Otolith announced it will enroll patients for a pivotal study assessing the device’s efficacy for chronic vertigo.
Otolith CEO Sam Owen said data from pilot studies of the nVSM technology showed significant promise for the device and supports the company’s goal of commercializing the technology.
“It’s been an eye-opening experience hearing what individuals with chronic vertigo have had to endure on a regular basis. They live in a world that never feels steady and constantly worry ‘Will I fall over when I pick up my child or walk down a grocery aisle.’ There’s simply nothing to manage the symptoms of vertigo without a delayed effect and causing significant side effects,’ Owen told BioSpace. “It’s incredibly satisfying to be able to provide a solution for this overlooked and often desperate population and we’re so grateful to Morningside Ventures for providing the funding we need to bring our Breakthrough non-invasive Vestibular System Masking (nVSM) to those who need it.”
Modulating a Cell’s Entire Transcriptome
Colorado-based Arpeggio Biosciences raised $17 million in its Series A. The funds will support the development of a pipeline focused on therapies for diseases caused by dysregulation of transcription, the company announced.
Arpeggio’s technology monitors more than 100,000 transcripts across diseased and healthy cells exposed to diverse stimuli such as small molecules, biologics or ASOs.
Founding CEO Joey Azofeifa said the company’s platform screens drug libraries for their effect on thousands of gene and non-coding transcripts. This allows for the design of a molecule that can modulate a cell’s entire transcriptome, he explained.
This Series A funding was led by Builders VC and supported by Arpeggio’s seed round investors.
