Mission Bio’s Tapestri Platform is the first-ever single-cell multi-omics platform capable of identifying cancer cell mutation profiles.
Bay Area-based Mission Bio secured $70 million in a Series C financing round that will be used to scale the company’s single-cell multi-omics technology, the Tapestri Platform, expand its cell and gene therapy programs and boost its clinical reach for novel cancer treatments.
Mission Bio’s Tapestri Platform is the first-ever single-cell multi-omics platform capable of identifying cancer cell mutation profiles. The Tapestri Platform’s ability to detect rare cancer subclones and co-occurring cancer mutations using single-cell genomics provides a precise way to measure therapy response and disease progression. The platform allows researchers to identify the mutations that are driving the disease and allows them to improve treatment.
The Tapestri Platform is useful to researchers due to the complexities of cancer, which can include multiple mutations. Because of the capabilities of the Tapestri Platform, Mission Bio, which was spun out of research at the University of California at San Francisco, has been able to strike several partnerships with companies like LabCorp, Agios and Onconova Therapeutics. LabCorp, which supported Mission Bio’s Series B funding round in 2018, entered into a collaboration with Mission last year to harness the Tapestri Platform for applications in clinical diagnostics and in the development of new companion diagnostics. In addition to the companies, Mission Bio’s platform is also being used by various cancer centers, including MD Anderson and Memorial Sloan Kettering.
“We are on a mission to help our customers eliminate cancer. With access to multiple layers of the cellular profile, the Tapestri Platform can help identify novel biomarkers in diseased cells, monitor therapy resistance and response, and accelerate novel therapies through clinical trials,” Charlie Silver, co-founder and chief executive officer of Mission Bio said in a statement.
The Series C funding round was led by Novo Growth, the growth equity arm of Novo Holdings the venture arm of Denmark-based pharma giant Novo Nordisk. Other investors in the round include Soleus Capital, Mayfield, Cota and Agilent. The latest financing brings Mission Bio’s total funding to more than $120 million.
Robert Ghenchev, senior partner and head of Novo Growth, took a seat on Mission Bio’s board of directors.
Single-cell analysis has proven highly valuable in cancer research, and we are confident the technology will be used increasingly to unlock key insights into blood cancers, as well as solid tumor indications. We further see a clear opportunity in drug development, where the technology can bring great impact to patients’ lives,” Ghenchev said in a statement. “We are impressed with Mission Bio’s innate approach to data integration at the single-cell level and are excited to contribute more than capital by activating our broad life science network to support their mission to greatly impact the success and economics of precision therapy development.”
