“A white space opportunity.” That’s how Enlaza Therapeutics Inc. co-founder and CEO Sergio Duron described to BioWorld the company’s efforts to develop the first covalent biologics, an endeavor that has gained the backing of an impressive group of investors in a recently closed $100 million series A round.
In one of the biggest startups ever, Xaira Therapeutics has launched with more than $1 billion from investors. The financing, according to BioWorld records, is roughly equivalent to Roivant Sciences Inc.’s $1.1 billion raise in August 2017 and Galderma Inc.’s $1 billion private placement in June 2023.
Newco Outrun Therapeutics Ltd. has raised $10 million in a seed round to develop small-molecule E3 ubiquitin ligase inhibitors that prevent programmed protein degradation. The lead program targeting an E3 ligase that tags a tumor suppressor protein for destruction will now advance to preclinical development.
Corner Therapeutics Inc. raised $54 million in a series A financing to create vaccines to protect against cancer and infectious diseases by helping the immune system engineer T cells. The company’s core interest is in advancements in immunotherapy through direct manipulation of T cells, which are the “keys to the kingdom for any cancer therapy,” Nick Seaver, Corner’s chief business officer, told BioWorld.
One of the building blocks for newly launched Clasp Therapeutics Corp. is making the right patient choices for treatment. If those who receive the company’s therapy are correctly identified, CEO Robert Ross told BioWorld, it will have a profound effect on outcomes. The missing link in cancer treatment, Ross added, was how to identify a patient, something he said Clasp is able to do.