GRO Biosciences will use the Series B funds to launch a Phase I trial for ProGly-Uricase, its investigational therapy for gout.
GRO Biosciences, which was born out of pioneering genetics research from George Church’s lab at Harvard, closed a Series B funding round on Friday, with a $60.3 million raise to help the company advance its pipeline and further develop its platform.
In particular, GRObio plans to primarily use its Series B haul to start a Phase I clinical trial for its lead program ProGly-Uricase, an investigational enzyme-based therapy being proposed for severe and refractory gout. The Cambridge, MA–based biotech will also use Friday’s earnings to expand its pipeline and further develop its proprietary genomically recoded organism (GRO) platform.
“This financing enables us to acquire valuable clinical efficacy data in gout, while expanding our platform to demonstrate the first scalable production of proteins with multiple NSAAs [non-standard amino acids],” GRObio CEO Dan Mandell said in a statement.
Thursday’s fundraising was co-led by Atlas Venture and Access Biotechnology, both of which are new investors in GRObio.
Whereas proteins are naturally built from an array of 20 amino acids, GRObio’s GRO platform makes use of genetically altered organisms—typically bacteria—that can harness 21 NSAAs. According to the biotech’s website, these NSAAs can “enhance proteins with capabilities inaccessible to the 20 standard amino acids.” These improvements include longer duration of action and precise control of the immune system.
ProGly-Uricase, GRObio’s lead program, uses these novel protein building blocks to sidestep the usual immune response to the standard uricase therapy used in gout. By incorporating NSAAs, ProGly-Uricase avoids the development of anti-drug antibodies that would otherwise bind to the uricase enzyme and tag it for clearance from the body.
Specifically, ProGly-Uricase carries sugar molecules called glycans that help the immune system identify the therapy as a “self” protein—rather than as something foreign—in turn avoiding an immune response.
Through this mechanism of action, GRObio proposes that ProGly-Uricase allows patients with severe and refractory gout to “maintain long-term effective control” of their serum uric acid concentrations, according to its news announcement.
Beyond gout, GRObio is also applying its ProGly program to autoimmune disorders. As per its website, its first indication in this space is myasthenia gravis, for which it is developing ProGly-AChR, a modified version of the acetylcholine receptor that plays a central role in the disease. GRObio is positioning ProGly-AChR as the first disease-modifying therapy for myasthenia gravis.
