GRO Biosciences Secures $60M Series B Funding Co-Led by Atlas Venture and Access Biotechnology

GRO Biosciences Inc. (GRObio), a biotechnology firm based in Boston, has announced the successful closure of a substantial $60.3 million Series B financing round. The funds will be primarily directed towards advancing their lead program for gout treatment into clinical stages, expanding their diverse pipeline, and enhancing their genomically recoded organism (GRO) platform which facilitates the scalable production of therapeutics utilizing multiple non-standard amino acids (NSAAs).

This latest financing round, which takes GRObio's total capital raised to over $90 million, saw participation from new investors such as Atlas Venture and Access Biotechnology, alongside existing backers including Leaps by Bayer, Redmile Group, Digitalis Ventures, and Innovation Endeavors. The financing also brings new additions to GRObio's Board of Directors with Kevin Bitterman, PhD, Partner at Atlas Venture, and Dan Becker, MD, PhD, Managing Director at Access Biotechnology joining the team.

GRObio’s lead drug candidate, ProGly-Uricase, is designed to treat severe cases of refractory gout. Gout, a type of arthritis, leads to painful joint inflammation due to excessive uric acid accumulation. The current treatment for patients unresponsive to primary therapies involves a uricase enzyme that breaks down uric acid crystals. However, this treatment often fails as patients quickly develop anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) which neutralize the enzyme, rendering it ineffective.

ProGly-Uricase incorporates GRObio’s innovative ProGly NSAAs, which are designed to avert the formation of ADAs, allowing patients to sustain effective control of serum uric acid levels over the long term. The substantial Series B funding will accelerate the initiation of clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of ProGly-Uricase in human participants with elevated uric acid levels.

The ProGly NSAAs technology involves the integration of sugar molecules known as glycans, which modulate the immune response to proteins. These glycans help the immune system identify the therapeutic protein as "self," thereby preventing an adverse immune reaction. This technology holds promising potential beyond uricase, extending to various immunogenic therapies. Moreover, ProGly-based treatments are also in development to manage autoimmune diseases by promoting specific immune tolerance to disease-causing antigens without broadly suppressing the immune system.

“We are immensely pleased to collaborate with new investors Atlas Venture and Access Biotechnology, whose support complements our existing investors,” stated Dan Mandell, PhD, CEO of GRObio. He emphasized that the company is well-positioned to transition into a clinical-stage entity, leveraging their preclinical successes and the scalability of their GRO platform. The new funding will provide essential clinical efficacy data for their gout treatment while also advancing the potential for scalable production of proteins incorporating multiple NSAAs, including those with drug, immune recruitment, and tissue-targeting functionalities.

Kevin Bitterman, PhD of Atlas Venture, expressed enthusiasm about GRObio's pioneering platform for the discovery and production of NSAA-based therapeutics, highlighting the company's clear trajectory towards various commercial opportunities, starting with severe gout. Dan Becker, MD, PhD of Access Biotechnology, echoed these sentiments, praising ProGly’s innovative solutions for patients with limited treatment options and expressing optimism about the potential improvements in patient quality of life through GRObio’s technologies.

GRO Biosciences is committed to transforming the landscape of protein therapeutics, applying its cutting-edge science to tackle autoimmune and metabolic diseases, among others. Through strategic collaborations and an expanding pipeline, GRObio aims to improve patient outcomes with their unique NSAA chemistries.

Atlas Venture focuses on translating groundbreaking science into patient medicines, while Access Biotechnology invests in companies developing transformative therapies across various stages and therapeutic areas.

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