These life sciences companies are falling into some cold, hard investment cash.
These life sciences companies are falling into some cold, hard cash investments.
Garuda Therapeutics
Cambridge-based Garuda is up and running with $72 million Series A to develop the “world’s first, off-the-shelf hematopoietic stem cell platform that will eliminate dependency on donor or patient cells.” With self-renewing blood stem cells, patients would have easy access to long-lasting, consistently matched blood stem cell therapies. This is especially important for minority and mixed-race patients who often face greater challenges to finding a match. The current pipeline includes programs for hematologic malignancies, sickle cell disease, β-thalassemia, bone marrow failure diseases and more.
Anji Pharma
Named after a bridge in China’s Hebei Province, Anji Pharma is attempting to bridge the gap between the US and China to increase patient access to novel drugs in the metabolic, oncology, neuroscience and infectious disease spaces. This week’s $70 million Series B came from a sole cross-border investor, CR Capital. The funds will be utilized to advance two late-stage clinical programs in metabolic disorders. ANJ900 is in a Phase III trial for patients with Type 2 diabetes with moderate renal impairment. ANJ908 is in the midst of a Phase II trial for chronic idiopathic constipation. Anji believes its truly global approach to clinical trials will bring medicines to patients faster.
Delix Therapeutics
Hearkening back to first-generation psychedelics while leaving behind the hallucinations, Delix is creating compounds to promote neuroplasticity to treat mental illness and brain disorders. Roping in $70 million for its two lead assets, Phase I studies are anticipated in 2022 with IND-enabling studies underway. Delix’s CSO is responsible for the science behind it. Dr. David Olson found that non-hallucinogenic psychoplastogens are capable of producing sustained therapeutic effects. “Because the Delix platform directly reverses cortical atrophy — the root cause of many brain disorders — we are optimistic that our treasure trove of novel compounds will yield many safe and scalable treatments for improving mental health,” Olson said.
Twelve months after its $47 million launch, Hexagon Bio is freshly stocked with $61 million to fuel its microbial genomes platform. The company is focused on turning “nature’s hidden molecules” into first-in-class drugs. Proceeds from this latest raise will funnel into expanding the genomics database to accelerate drug discovery efforts for “high-value anti-infective and oncology targets.” Penicillin and other antibiotics were discovered through fungi and other microbes. Using genetic sequencing and AI, Hexagon is determined to uncover more opportunities.
Headquartered in South Dakota, SAB Biotherapeutics has won another $60.5 million from BARDA and the US Department of Defense for its Rapid Response antibody program. This brings a total of $200 million awarded since March of 2020 to the program for its fully-human polyclonal antibodies that have no need for human donors. SAB-185 is the company’s candidate for the treatment of COVID-19. Its currently in a Phase II/III trial in non-hospitalized patients with mild-moderate infections at risk for more serious disease. SAB is planning a merger with Big Cypress Acquisition Corp, taking the SPAC route to go public.
Aviv Scientific
Monikered after its HQ city, Tel Aviv, Aviv Scientific is leading the way in research and clinical treatment of age-related cognitive and functional decline. With $40 million in Series B funds, the company is accelerating the rollout of its global network of medical clinics along with development of its Aging Database. In-depth OMICS data will be captured detailing the aging process in healthy adults to aid in the development of treatment options to extend the health and lifespan of humans.
Kytopen
This MIT spinout scooped up $30 million in a Series A funding round to commercialize its Flowfect Tx for cGMP-compliant cell therapy manufacturing. Inching closer to treating its first patient with Flowfect engineered cells, the tech accelerates the cell engineering process using electro-mechanical energy to introduce genetic material to different primary human cells. Kytopen received an infusion in June by way of an SBIR Fast Track grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) worth up to $2 million over the course of three years.
After five years of working quietly behind the scenes, Kunwoo Lee has uncloaked his solution to the gene-editing “delivery problem” with $26 million in Series A funds for his company, GenEdit. Because its approach uses polymer nanoparticles to deliver DNA, RNA or CRISPR ribonucleoprotein to add, delete, edit or silence a gene to treat disease, it does not trigger an immune response in patients. This enables a “universe of opportunities” for next-gen genetic medicines. Funds will support the development of GenEdit’s NanoGalaxy platform while identifying a candidate to take on IND-enabling trials.
