Alts Watch Healthcare Beat: $1.8bn in capital for clinical trials, medtech

For the week ending January 10, Alternatives Watch has tracked more than $1.8 billion in private financing deals done by private equity firms, institutional investors and hedge funds in the life sciences arena. Some of the more well-known investors this past week include Tiger Global Management, Mirae Asset, New Enterprise Associates, Blackrock, Viking Global, Citadel's Surveyor Capital and others. All told these investors are supporting research in infectious disease, digital health and gene-based cancer therapy expansion. The deals outlined are all of the financing rounds totaling $40 million or more over the last 7 days. Affinivax The deal: $226 million Series C round.The players: New investors Rock Springs Capital and Foresite Capital co-led the round. Other new investors included T. Rowe Price, Wellington Management, funds and accounts managed by Blackrock, Cormorant Asset Management, Perceptive Advisors, EcoR1 Capital, Citadel's Surveyor Capital and Logos Capital. Existing investors Viking Global Investors, Bain Capital Life Sciences and Ziff Capital Healthcare Ventures also participated. Kris Jenner, founder and partner at Rock Springs Capital, has joined Affinivax's board of directors.The play: Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Affinivax is using its proprietary Multiple Antigen Presenting System platform to develop vaccine candidates for various infectious diseases; its pipeline includes pneumococcal vaccine candidates and first-in-class vaccine candidates targeting health care-associated infections. Color The deal: $167 million Series D round.The players: General Catalyst led the round, with participation from funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates and Viking Global Investors.The play: San Francisco-based health technology company Color plans to use the funding to advance its efforts to build public health technology and infrastructure for governments, employers and other institutions that serve large populations. The company is enabling partners such as the City of San Francisco, the National Institutes of Health, Salesforce and United Airlines to provide essential healthcare services directly where people live or work. Scorpio Therapeutics The deal: $162 million Series B round.The players: The financing was led by Tavistock Group's Boxer Capital, EcoR1 Capital, LLC, Omega Funds and Vida Ventures. Citadel's Surveyor Capital joined as a new investor, along with Invus, Wellington Management Company, Nextech Invest, OrbiMed, Casdin Capital, LLC, Woodline Partners LP, Logos Capital, Janus Henderson Investors and undisclosed institutional investors. Existing investors Atlas Venture and Abingworth were also aboard.The play: Boston-based Scorpion Therapeutics will use the the proceeds to support the advancement of its proprietary Precision Oncology 2.0 drug-hunting engine. The company expects to name its first development candidate this year and start its first trials in 2022 Ikena Oncology The deal: Oversubscribed $120 million series B financing.The players: The round was led and syndicated by Omega Funds and included participation from new investors such as Fidelity Management & Research as well as existing investors, including Bristol Myers Squibb. Otello Stampacchia, Omega Funds managing director, will join Ikena's board of directors.The play: Boston-based Ikena plans to use the proceeds from the financing to advance its pipeline of targeted oncology therapies, including the TEAD inhibitor IK-930 and a new first-in-class preclinical program targeting KRAS signaling. Senti Bio The deal: $105 million Series B financing.The players: Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment arm of Bayer, led the round. New investors Matrix Partners China, Mirae Asset Capital, Ridgeback Capital and Intel Capital also participated, as well as existing investors including New Enterprise Associates (NEA), 8VC, Amgen Ventures and Lux Capital.The play: Based in South San Francisco, Senti Bio is a pioneer in the use of using synthetic biology to make gene circuits that improve cell and gene therapy products. The company plans to use proceeds from the financing to support the development of preclinical oncology programs and the expansion of its gene circuit technology platform across additional delivery modalities and therapeutic areas. Terns Therapeutics The deal: $87 million Series C funding.The players: The round was co-led by Deerfield Management Company and a strategic equity investment by Eli Lilly and Company ,with participation from OrbiMed Advisors, Lilly Asia Ventures, Vivo Capital, Samsara Capital, Suvretta Capital Management and several other new investors. Deerfield Partner Elise Wang has joined the Terns Pharmaceuticals board of directors.The play: Foster City, California-based Terns Pharmaceuticals will use the funding to advance its portfolio of small-molecule single-agent and combination treatment candidates for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and other chronic liver diseases. Lexeo Therapeutics The deal: $85 million Series A financing.The players: Longitude Capital and Omega Funds. Also participating were Lundbeckfonden Ventures, PBM Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Invus, Woodline Partners LP, the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation and Alexandria Venture Investments.The play: New York City-based Lexeo plans to use the proceeds to help advance the company's lead investigational programs targeting three devastating genetic and acquired diseases: Friedreich's ataxia, CLN2 Batten disease and APOE4-associated Alzheimer's disease. Werewolf Therapeutics The deal: $82 million Series C round.The players: RA Capital Management led the round, which was joined by new investors Deerfield Management, HBM Healthcare Investments, Soleus Capital, Adage Capital, Sphera Healthcare and CaaS Capital. Also aboard were existing investors including MPM Capital, Longwood Fund, Taiho Ventures, Arkin Bio Ventures, UPMC Enterprises and DC Investment Partners. Derek DiRocco of RA Capital Management and Elise Wang of Deerfield Management joined the board of directors of Werewolf.The play: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Werewolf Therapeutics plans to use the proceeds to advance its proprietary Indukine platform of systemically delivered, conditionally activated pro-inflammatory immune modulators. The funding is expected to take the company's lead Indukine product candidates, WTX-124 and WTX-330, through Phase I clinical proof-of-concept studies DiCE Molecules The deal: $80 million Series C financing round.The players: RA Capital Management led the round, with participation from new investors including Eventide Asset Management, New Leaf Venture Partners, Soleus Capital, Driehaus Capital Management, Osage University Partners and Asymmetry Capital Management. Existing investors Northpond Ventures, Sands Capital, Sanofi Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, Altitude Life Science Ventures and Agent Capital also participated.The play: DiCE Molecules is based in South San Francisco and has developed a drug discovery platform that uses a proprietary DNA-encoded library technology to generate small molecule antagonists against a range of protein-protein-interface targets. The company will use the financing to accelerate development of its lead IL-17 program targeting a variety of autoimmune diseases, including psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. IconOVir Bio The deal: $77 million Series A financing.The players: The financing was co-led by Nextech and Vida Ventures, with Two River Group, Bellco Capital, Polaris Partners, GV, Wellington Partners Venture Capital and Logos Capital participating.The play: San Diego-based IconOVir has developed a proprietary platform to create next-generation oncolytic viruses. The company was founded by Two River Group, a seasoned team that previously launched Kite Pharma, Inc. and Allogene Therapeutics, among others. Endeavor BioMedicines The deal: $62 million Series A round.The players: The round was co-led by Omega Funds, Longitude Capital and Endeavor’s management.The play: Based in San Diego, Endeavor BioMedicines plans to use the funding to advance taladegib, an inhibitor of the Hedgehog pathway, into two Phase II clinical studies for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Kira Pharmaceuticals The deal: Oversubscribed $53.5 million Series B+ financing.The players: Capital Management and Vivo Capital co-led the round, with participation from Foresite Capital and APlus Partners. Existing investors, including Quan Capital and Qiming Venture Partners USA, also participated.The play: With offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts and an R&D center in Suzhou, China, Kira Pharmaceuticals has a therapeutic focus on inflammatory and autoimmune diseases as well as oncology. The company plans to advance three complement-targeted treatments to the clinic over the next 18 months. Myeloid Therapeutics The deal: $50 million Series A financing.The players: Newpath Partners led the round, with participation from 8VC, Hatteras Venture Partners and Alexandria Venture Investments.The play: Counting oncologist and Pulitzer Prize Winner Siddhartha Mukherjee among its founders, Newpath Founders uses advanced gene and cell engineering capabilities with biologics knowledge to elucidate and redirect the power of myeloid cells to treat cancers, particularly solid tumors. The company plans to start clinical trials for its programs that target T-cell lymphoma, glioblastoma and other solid tumors. Abcuro The deal: $42 million Series A-1 financing.The players: Mass General Brigham Ventures and Sanofi Ventures co-led the round, which also included Pontifax Venture Capital, Hongsen Investment Group, RA Capital Management and Samsara BioCapital, among others. Jason Hafler from Sanofi Ventures, Iyona Rajkomar from Pontifax Venture Capital, Ryan Berry from RA Capital Management and Donald McCarthy from Samsara BioCapital have joined the Abcuro board of directors.The play: Based in Newton, Massachusetts, Abcuro is leveraging discoveries by Steven Greenberg of Brigham and Women's Hospital to advance anti-KLRG1 treatments for cancers and autoimmune diseases. The funding will support preclinical development of the company's anti-KLRG1-blocking antibody ABC015 in solid tumors. Aulos Bioscience The deal: $40 million Series A funding.The players: Life sciences venture capital firm ATP and biotechnology firm Biolojic Design co-led the round.The play: Newly launched Aulos Bioscience will be based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company is focused on antibodies designed by investor Biolojic Design to minimize the suppressive effect the IL-2 cytokine has on the immune system, while at the same time maximizing its activating effect. The antibodies in solid tumors. Aro Biotherapeutics The deal: $88 million Series A financingThe players: Northpond Ventures and Cowen Healthcare Investments led the round, with participation from HealthCap, BVF Partners L.P., and Ridgeback Capital.The play: Aro Biotherapeutics is backed by other pharma companies including Johnson & Johnson Innovation and is targeting RNA therapies for rare and genetic immune disorders. This latest round of funding is to be used to advance the company’s lead therapeutic candidates into clinical development. Biomea Fusion The deal: $56 million Series A financingThe players: The financing was led by Cormorant Asset Management with participation from Boxer Capital of Tavistock Group, Janus Henderson Investors, Rock Springs Capital, RTW Investments, LP, Aisling Capital, Point Sur Investors, Logos Capital and Clifton Capital.The play: The California based Biomea plans to use the proceeds to bring its irreversible menin inhibitor into the clinic to produce first-in-human data for a variety of tumor types. The company also plans to expand its core research team in order to enhance both pre-clinical and clinical capabilities. Gyroscope Therapeutics The deal: £50.4 million ($68.4 million) Series B financingThe players: Life sciences company Syncona Ltd. made up most of the round with a smaller amount (£2.4 million) coming from the University of Cambridge-affiliated investment firm Cambridge Innovation Capital. The play: The U.K.-based company plans to use the proceeds from the financing round to advance the clinical development its investigational gene therapy (GT005) for dry age-related macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of permanent vision impairment for people aged 65 and older. LifeMine Therapeutics The deal: $50 million Series B financingThe players: The financing was led by Rick Klausner and Milky Way Investments, with participation from existing investors GV (formerly Google Ventures), WuXi Healthcare Ventures, Foresite Capital, Arch Ventures, Blue Pool Capital and MRL Ventures Fund.The play: The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based LifeMine is a biopharmaceutical company seeking to reinvent drug discovery by mining fungal biodiversity to develop novel therapeutics. The biotech company seeks to accelerate and expand its drug discovery efforts as well as to advance select pipeline programs toward clinical development. CARISMA Therapeutics The deal: $47 million Series B financing round brings the firm’s fundraising total to more than $100 million.The players: Symbiosis II, LLC led the round with investment from new investors Solasta Ventures and Livzon Pharmaceutical Group Inc. Additionally, the round included participation from existing investors including AbbVie Ventures, HealthCap, Wellington Partners, IP Group, TPG Biotech, Agent Capital and MRL Ventures Fund.The play: CARISMA's discovery and development efforts are focused on their proprietary CAR-M platform, developed at the University of Pennsylvania, which seeks to address challenges of other cell therapies in treating solid tumors. The financing will back the Phase I clinical trial of CARISMA's lead candidate, CT-0508, an anti-human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) targeted chimeric antigen receptor macrophage (CAR-M), which recently initiated trial enrollment and patient screening for the first-of-its-kind, first-in-human study of CAR-M. The funding will also allow CARISMA to continue expansion in cancer indications and enable the platform's application to disease areas outside of cancer. CorWave The deal: $40 million in funding mostly from existing investorsThe players: Bpifrance, Novo Holdings, Seventure, Sofinnova Partners and Ysios Capital, existing shareholders of CorWave who are leading investors in life sciences, significantly increased their stake in the company. The company announced that it was the first investment of the $4.4 billion EIC Fund, financed by the European Commission and one of the largest VC funds in Europe. Two new shareholders join the returning investors and EIC Fund: Financière Arbevel and the Singaporean family office M&L Healthcare.The play: French company CorWave is developing an implantable heart pump and the new funds will allow for more development of this initial product, expand a manufacturing infrastructure, completion of testing prior to conducting human implants and fund the ability to start human clinical trials. Carrum Health The deal: $40 million Series A financingThe players: Led by Tiger Global Management LLC, the financing also had participation from GreatPoint Ventures and Cross Creek and return investors Wildcat Venture Partners and SpringRock Ventures.The play: A digital health company that connects employers and employees to Centers of Excellence, Carrum Health is looking to expand its offerings to more employers and provide access to additional healthcare services and enhance technology to support its fast-growing roster of clients and providers.

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