Aisling Centre Co. Ltd.

Garuda Therapeutics has replaced its top leader and reeled in about $47 million to continue funding its blood stem cell therapy work, Endpoints News has learned. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech unveiled the new financing in an SEC filing this week, in which it also disclosed former CTI BioPharma CEO Adam Craig is now Garuda’s chief executive. Craig joins about a year and a half after leading Seattle-based CTI to a $1.7 billion exit to Swedish rare disease pharma Sobi. Craig and crew had secured a 2022 accelerated approval for their JAK inhibitor Vonjo in the blood cancer myelofibrosis. A source familiar with the biotech, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the new financing and leadership change to Endpoints. It is unclear when exactly Craig took over as CEO from co-founder Dhvanit Shah, who is still listed as CEO on the biotech’s website and still describes himself as the leader of Garuda on his LinkedIn page. He is also still listed as a board member on the company’s website, but is not mentioned as a board director in the new SEC filing. Craig declined to comment on the filing. Shah couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Garuda is developing off-the-shelf cell therapies. Its goal is to eliminate the need for blood stem cell transplants and give patients self-renewing blood stem cells instead. On its website, the biotech touts its technology’s potential to “cure” more than 70 diseases. The biotech had raised $134 million as of its $62 million Series B in February 2023, at which point it said the first clinical trial was on tap for 2024. The startup said hematological and oncology indications were at the top of the pipeline at the time of the Series B. Its investors have included Northpond Ventures, OrbiMed, Cormorant Asset Management, Aisling Capital, Sectoral Asset Management, Mass General Brigham Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments and other “elite investors and individuals,” according to previous releases .