The financing is expected to be used to advance the company’s computational platform, as well as expand Schrödinger’s therapeutic pipeline.
Weeks after receiving an undisclosed milestone payment from Sanofi, New York-based Schrodinger announced new investors have joined its $110 million financing round. The new additions to the financing round caused the previous total of $85 million to shoot up to the current total.
The financing is expected to be used to advance the company’s computational platform, as well as expand privately-held Schrödinger’s therapeutic pipeline. In its announcement this morning, Schrödinger said the $110 million funding will also be able to support the continued expansion of collaborations with global biopharma companies, such as the Sanofi deal. These partnerships have already led to two FDA-approved oncology drugs, several clinical-stage assets and more than two dozen additional programs moving through discovery and development, the company said. Under the terms of the collaboration with Sanofi, Schrödinger provides advanced molecular simulation and computational design support to Sanofi across multiple stages of drug discovery. That includes target analysis and lead optimization to identification of a development candidate. The companies are currently advancing programs in oncology and autoimmune disease.
The latest investment will also support Schrödinger’s ongoing research and development efforts to extend the reach of its proprietary technology platform. The platform integrates “novel physics-based molecular simulations and machine learning to enable exploration of vastly more chemical space than is possible through traditional drug discovery methods,” the company said.
Schrödinger Chief Executive Officer Ramy Farid said the company’s platform has been validated multiple times across “hundreds of targets in real-world drug discovery projects.” Farid said Schrödinger is committed to leveraging its platform to “speed discovery of new medicines” and is “delighted” to receive broad support from investors.
The investors who joined the latest financing round include Invus, Pavilion Capital, Oculus co-founder Michael Antonov’s investment fund, Tubus Management and Laurion Capital Management. Previous investors in the round included the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, WuXi AppTec’s Corporate Venture Fund, Deerfield Management, Baron, Qiming Venture Partners, and Google’s GV, formerly known as Google Ventures.
Earlier this year when the initial financing round was announced, Microsoft billionaire Gates said Schrödinger has “demonstrated that precise molecular design can significantly accelerate drug discovery and lead to unexpected solutions that stand to benefit patients.” Gates and his foundation have led three previous investment rounds in Schrödinger since 2010.
In addition to its partnerships with companies like Sanofi, Schrödinger has also co-founded several biotech companies, including Nimbus Therapeutics and Morphic Therapeutic.
