Chroma Medicine, a biotech company developing therapies that turn genes on or off as a way of treating genetic disorders, has raised $135 million as it works to generate data that could show the advantages of its approach over other editing technologies.
Genetic medicines in development employ a range of editing technologies that either cut or nick one or both strands of DNA. These edits can silence a problem-causing gene, but the nicks and cuts come with the risk of off-target edits. Silencing a gene in this manner isn’t a complete solution as the edited gene can still produce a gene product that causes problems, said Chroma CEO Catherine Stehman-Breen.
Boston-based Chroma emerged from stealth in late 2021 with $125 million to support its research developing therapies that target the epigenome, the system that controls the expression of genes. Because this approach does not rely on cutting or nicking DNA, it doesn’t introduce the risks that come with those therapies, Stehman-Breen said. She added Chroma’s therapies could address multiple genes with a single therapy, a concept called multiplexing.
While Chroma is keeping details about its programs under wraps for now, Stehman-Breen said these programs address areas of unmet medical need. She added that these programs have been selected “to demonstrate and validate the power of our technology, but also to demonstrate differentiation.”
Chroma isn’t the only company aiming to leverage the epigenome. Omega Therapeutics is developing therapies called “epigenomic controllers” that dial gene expression up or down gene expression to treat disease. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech’s most advanced program targets the MYC gene and has reached Phase 1 testing in liver cancer and other solid tumors associated with this gene. The company expects preliminary data from this study later this year.
Meanwhile, Tune Therapeutics is developing epigenomic therapies with multiplexing capabilities that tune multiple parts of the genome simultaneously. The Durham, North Carolina-based biotech is based on research from Duke University. Since its 2021 launch with $40 million in financing, the company has not disclosed its disease targets, other than to say its approach could address both rare and common diseases.
So far, Chroma has mouse data and will be progressing to monkey studies quickly, Stehman-Breen said. Those results will enable the company to proceed to human testing, though she declined to specify timelines. But she said Chroma expects to present data from its preclinical research at an upcoming scientific meeting this year.
GV led Chroma’s Series B financing, which added additional new investors Arch Venture Partners, DCVC Bio, and Mubadala Capital. Also participating in the round were earlier investors Alexandria Venture Investments, Atlas Venture, Casdin Capital, Cormorant Asset Management, Janus Henderson Investors, Newpath Partners, Omega Funds, Osage University Partners, Sofinnova Partners, T Rowe Price, and Wellington Management.
Asked whether the new money is a crossover round, the type of financing that could support an IPO, Stehman-Brehn said Chroma is not specifying the nature of the new capital. But she added that Chroma will consider multiple different financing options and take advantage of the one that puts it in the best position to grow the company.
Here’s a look back at some other recent life science financings:
—Cancer can develop resistance to cell therapies. Cargo Therapeutics, which is developing CAR T-therapies that overcome this resistance, has raised $200 million for its pipeline, including a lead program that is on track to begin a pivotal test this summer. Third Rock Ventures, RTW Investments, and Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund co-led the Series A round of San Mateo, California-based Cargo.
—Cell therapy developer Oricell Therapeutics closed $45 million in financing to support clinical trials in the U.S. The company’s most advanced program is a CAR T-therapy in Phase 1 testing. The new cash, which the Shanghai-based biotech describes as a Series B-1 financing, follows a $125 million Series B round that was announced last July. The additional financing was led by RTW investments.
—TandemAI, a company whose technology is used in drug discovery, announced a $35 million Series A financing. The company says its tech platform integrates physics-based computational approaches with an in-house wet lab. The startup has operations in New York, San Diego, and China. Qiming Venture Partners led TandemAI’s financing.
—Neuropsychiatric disease drug developer Transcend Therapeutics unveiled a $40 million Series A financing to support its clinical trial plans. The New York-based startup says it will use the new capital to launch multiple clinical trials with its “next-generation psychoactive compound.” Alpha Wave Global and Integrated Investment Partners led Transcend’s new financing.
—Eluminex Biosciences raised $40 million in Series B financing to support development of its pipeline of retinal disease therapies. The Suzou, China-based company’s most advanced program is a corneal blindness therapy that has reached Phase 3 testing. Eluminex’s latest financing was led by Cenova Capital.
—Abivax now has €130 million to apply toward a Phase 3 clinical trial in ulcerative colitis. Abivax’s drug, obefaximod, is a small molecule intended to reduce inflammation. Last fall, the Paris-based company began the pivotal study, which has a targeted enrollment of 1,200 ulcerative colitis patients across 36 countries.
TCGX led what Abivax described as a crossover financing. But the biotech will still need more cash. The current financing is expected to last only until the end of 2024, when Abivax projects it will have results from the induction phase of the study—when patients get drug into their bodies to eliminate the symptoms. The next phase is maintenance therapy to keep the disease in remission, which will last until the end of 2025. Abivax estimates it will need to raise another €101 million to complete the clinical trial.
—Avilar Therapeutics’ ambition to bring the drug modality of targeted protein degradation to disease-causing proteins on the outside of a cell has drawn interest from the venture arms of Sanofi and Astellas. They joined with Medical Excellence Capital to expand Avilar’s seed financing from $60 million in 2021 to $75 million now. Here’s more from a MedCity News profile story about Avilar, a startup formed by RA Capital Management.
—Aera Therapeutics, the latest startup based on the research of genetic medicines pioneer Feng Zhang, emerged from stealth, revealing $193 million raised to date in combined Series A and B financings. Boston-based Aera aims to overcome limitations of current genetic medicines delivery approaches that use engineered viruses that carry their genetic payloads in capsids, or protein shells. These viruses can trigger an immune response and they don’t go to all tissues in the body.
The technology of Aera forms capsid-like structures from human proteins. This platform includes an enzyme technology that uses programmable gene-editing enzymes. Aera says the compact size of these enzymes may help overcome the challenges of packaging and delivering genetic editors with currently available methods.
—Hemab Therapeutics closed $135 million to support a pipeline of antibody drugs for rare bleeding disorders that have no approved treatments. The company’s lead program, in-licensed from Novo Nordisk, recently began a Phase 1/2 study in Glanzmann thrombasthenia. Access Biotechnology led the Series B financing for Hemab, which splits its operations between Copenhagen and Boston.
—Hexagon Bio closed a $77.3 million Series B financing. The Menlo Park, California-based company discovers drugs by mining microbial genomes to find small molecules and their targets. The company says its computational and robotic capabilities have enabled it to build a proprietary database of microbial genomes to support its research. With the new cash, Hexagon plans to expand its headcount and its platform technology as it works toward nomination of drug candidates in oncology and infectious disease. Hexagon last raised cash in 2021, a $61 million Series A round.
—With its Parkinson’s disease drug candidate on track to start Phase 2 testing and other neuroscience programs progress in the clinic, Cerevance raised $51 million. This expansion of its Series B financing boosted the round’s total to $116 million.
Besides the plans for Parkinson’s drug CN424, Cerevance is also preparing to start a mid-stage test of a schizophrenia drug and a Phase 1 test of an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis therapy. Boston-based Cerevance discovers and develops drugs with a technology platform it calls NETseq. Apart from its internal programs, Cerevance has an Alzheimer’s disease drug discovery alliance with Merck.
—Halda Therapeutics, founded by Yale University professor and targeted protein degradation pioneer Craig Crews, emerged from stealth to reveal a new drug modality backed by $76 million in financing to date. New Haven, Connecticut-based Halda develops small molecules that bring together two proteins, one of them cancer specific and the other with an essential function. This approach leads to the elimination of the essential function, which then causes the death of the cancer cell. Preclinical data for what Halda describes as a “hold and kill” mechanism were outlined in a poster presentation at the recent American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco.
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