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Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: RIGL) today announced that Aclaris Therapeutics International Limited (ATIL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc., and Rigel have entered into an exclusive, worldwide license agreement for the development and commercialization of specified Rigel JAK inhibitors for the treatment of alopecia areata and other dermatological conditions.

Under the license agreement, ATIL will assume responsibility for the continued development of specified Rigel JAK inhibitor compounds for the treatment of alopecia areata and other dermatological conditions.  Rigel will receive an upfront payment of $8 million, and will be eligible to receive various milestone payments of up to $90 million based on global development and multiple indications, as well as tiered royalties on any future sales of these compounds.

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Blueprint Medicines (NASDAQ: BPMC) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted the Company’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application to begin a Phase 1 clinical trial of BLU-285 in patients with advanced systemic mastocytosis (SM), a disorder of the mast cells.

“BLU-285 has the potential to be a highly targeted therapy for patients with severe forms of SM who lack effective treatment options,” said Jeffrey Albers, Chief Executive Officer of Blueprint Medicines. “With the achievement of this milestone, we are simultaneously advancing multiple drug candidates into clinical trials for genomically defined subsets of patients in dire need of new therapies. We remain singularly focused on using our deep understanding of the genetic blueprint of cancer and other diseases driven by the abnormal activation of kinases to craft highly selective medicines aimed at improving patients’ lives.”

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Proteostasis Therapeutics, Inc. (PTI), a company developing novel therapeutics to treat diseases caused by defects in protein processing, today announced that it has secured $37 million in a Series B mezzanine equity financing. The company plans to use the proceeds of this financing to advance its lead product candidate in cystic fibrosis into human clinical studies and continue to expand its product portfolio.

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Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: RARE), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel products for rare and ultra-rare diseases, today announced the presentation of open-label data from five infants with cardiomyopathy due to long-chain fatty acid oxidation disorders (LC-FAOD) treated with triheptanoin (UX007). Severely affected LC-FAOD patients can present early in life with severe cardiomyopathy, arrhythmia, heart failure, hypoglycemia, hepatic dysfunction, and rhabdomyolysis that can lead to death. The data were presented at the Society for the Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism (SSIEM) Annual Symposium in Lyon, France.

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Symbiomix Therapeutics announced that the FDA has granted fast track designation to its single-dose bacterial vaginosis therapy, SYM-1219.

The company also recently completed enrollment for its phase 3 clinical trial of the drug, according to a press release.

“The Symbiomix team has executed an aggressive timeline to drive SYM-1219 toward the market,” Robert Jacks, president of Symbiomix, said in the release. “Completing patient enrollment in this phase 3 trial in less than 4 months, and achieving FDA fast track designation, are important milestones against our goal of filing a new drug application by the middle of next year.”

On a day overshadowed by news on Alzhemer’s drugs, Cambridge biotech Ironwood Pharmaceuticals said it plans to move ahead with a drug with potential in what it describes as “a huge range of diseases” including glaucoma, fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and diabetes complications.

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Unum Therapeutics, a company developing cellular immunotherapy to treat cancer, announced today that it has raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Fidelity Biosciences and Atlas Venture, with participation from Sanofi-Genzyme BioVentures. Unum has built a platform for cancer treatment based upon an antibody-coupled T-cell receptor (ACTR). Genetically programming T-cells with ACTR allows them to efficiently attack and kill tumor cells using targeting antibodies. In contrast to other approaches that are limited to a single target and treat a narrow set of tumors, Unum’s approach is not restricted by antigen and may have applications for treating many types of cancers. Unum plans to use capital raised through this financing to advance its lead candidate through initial proof-of-concept clinical studies, further enhance the ACTR technology, and establish partnerships to access tumor-specific antibodies for a pipeline of novel combination therapies.

Industry veteran Charles “Chuck” Wilson, PhD, will serve as President & CEO. Before founding Unum, Dr. Wilson led the team responsible for partnering to support research and early development at Novartis. With many oncology and immuno-oncology deals to his credit, he brings extensive experience to Unum spanning from early drug discovery through Phase II clinical development. Prior to Novartis, Dr. Wilson held both scientific and business management roles in biotech.

“We’ve created Unum to rapidly develop this universal cell therapy platform and to explore its potential in a number of different cancer types,” said Dr. Wilson. “With our Series A funding from Fidelity Biosciences, Atlas Venture, and Sanofi-Genzyme BioVentures, we will drive our lead program into Phase I testing and aim to quickly validate the ACTR approach in the clinic.”

Dario Campana, MD, PhD, is the company’s Scientific Founder. Dr. Campana is an established leader in the field of cancer cell therapies. At the National University of Singapore (NUS), he developed the ACTR technology that forms the basis for Unum. At St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (Memphis, TN), he created a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) approach that is currently being pursued by several pharma and biotech companies. He currently oversees a number of cell therapy clinical trials in oncology.

In addition to Drs. Wilson and Campana, Unum Therapeutics’ management team also includes Chief Scientific Officer Seth Ettenberg, PhD, a cancer biologist and drug development scientist with extensive experience leading teams in biotechnology and large pharmaceutical drug discovery settings. Dr. Ettenberg most recently served as the Cambridge site head for Novartis Oncology Biotherapeutics.

The initial Board of Directors for Unum Therapeutics is comprised of:

• Chuck Wilson, PhD, President & CEO, Unum Therapeutics
• Ben Auspitz, Partner, Fidelity Biosciences
• Bruce Booth, DPhil, Partner, Atlas Venture

“Unum combines a strong, experienced management team, a transformational technology that may revolutionize cancer treatment, and top scientific and business development talent,” said Mr. Auspitz. “It has the right combination of resources to carry out its vision of bringing to market a single therapy that can augment the activity of many different antibodies to treat many different cancers.”

About Unum Therapeutics

Unum Therapeutics uses proprietary T-cell engineering technology in combination with tumor-targeting antibodies to activate the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. Unum’s lead program, based on its Antibody-Coupled T-cell Receptor (ACTR) technology, is expected to enter Phase I clinical testing in the coming months to assess safety and efficacy. Unum is seeking partners interested in using the ACTR technology to arm proprietary tumor-specific antibodies with a T-cell to improve their therapeutic potential. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. For more information, visit www.unumrx.com.

About Fidelity Biosciences

Fidelity Biosciences (www.fidelitybiosciences.com) invests venture capital in biopharmaceutical, medical technology, healthcare information technology and healthcare service companies. The firm is a subsidiary of FMR LLC, the parent company of Fidelity Investments, one of the world’s leading providers of financial services. For more than 40 years, Fidelity has been a significant presence in the venture capital and private equity industry.

About Atlas Venture

Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Atlas Venture is focused on becoming the reference early-stage investor in New England. We are contrarian, patient, and aggressive investors. More information is available at www.atlasventure.com.

About Sanofi-Genzyme BioVentures

Sanofi-Genzyme BioVentures (SGBV) is a strategic fund that invests in early stage companies developing promising new products based on breakthrough science that may become future Sanofi pipeline candidates. SGBV’s investments align with Sanofi’s current and future areas of business interest such as rare diseases, oncology, vaccines, immune-mediated diseases, and other breakthrough therapies as well as integrated care solutions. For more information, visit us at www.sanofigenzymebioventures.com.

Avidity NanoMedicines today announced that it has expanded its investor syndicate through the closing of a $6 million convertible note financing coled by Fidelity Biosciences and TPG Biotech. Other investors in the financing include Brace Pharmaceuticals, Partner Fund Management, L.P. and existing investor Alethea Capital Management. Ben Auspitz from Fidelity Biosciences and Eran Nadav, Ph.D. from TPG Biotech will join Avidity’s board as observers. Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance new
cancer therapies that utilize the company’s proprietary antibody-siRNA complex (ARC™) platform.

Avidity is based on pioneering nanoparticle technology developed by Mark Davis, Schlinger Professor of Chemical Engineering at Caltech. Avidity NanoMedicines was founded to advance a new class of therapeutics, antibody-siRNA complexes (ARCsTM), which employ antibodytargeted nanoparticles containing siRNA payloads. The technology draws on the precise targeting associated with antibody-drug conjugates and the exquisite selectivity of nucleic acidbased medicines.

“Avidity NanoMedicines has recruited an exceptional team and is working on a fundamentally important problem – namely, the targeted delivery of nucleic acids to tumor cells and tissues outside the liver,” said Ben Auspitz, Partner at Fidelity Biosciences. “We have been impressed with the strategy and the science, and we are enthusiastic supporters of the continued evolution of Avidity.”

“Over the past several years, we have witnessed a resurgence in RNA interference and other nucleic acid-based therapeutic approaches,” added Eran Nadav, Ph.D., Partner and Managing Director at TPG Biotech. “We are now at an inflection point where advances in material and polymer science could enable a transformative shift in cancer treatment.”

“The promise and potential of targeted delivery has been a long-standing goal in the field of nucleic acid-based medicines,” said Troy Wilson, Ph.D., J.D., President, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Avidity NanoMedicines. “We are taking Mark Davis’ pioneering efforts in nanoparticle-based therapeutics, and building on them to advance breakthrough therapies in oncology. We are delighted to welcome these new investors to Avidity as our partners to realize this vision.”

About Avidity NanoMedicines

Avidity NanoMedicines is pioneering a new class of therapeutics, antibody-siRNA complexes
(ARCs™), which employ antibody-targeted nanoparticles containing siRNA payloads. The
technology draws on the targeting associated with antibody-drug conjugates and the selectivity of nucleic acid-based medicines. Through partnerships with academic and industry experts, Avidity is applying its technology to the discovery and development of novel, targeted drugs. Founded in 2013, the company entered into a research and development collaboration with a major pharmaceutical company in December 2013 and completed a $9 million Series A financing in January 2014. Avidity NanoMedicines is a privately held company located in La Jolla, California. For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.aviditynano.com.