MOMA Therapeutics launched on 15 April with an $86m series A round led by Third Rock Ventures with participation from Nextech Invest, Cormorant Asset Management, Creacion Ventures, Casdin Capital and Rock Springs Capital. The Cambridge, MA-based company is developing drugs address targets in the molecular machine protein family – more than 400 different enzymes, including DNA helicases and chromatin remodelers that control the maintenance and expression of genetic information, RNA helicases that mediate viral sensing and pattern recognition, and transporters that enable movement of biomolecular cargo within a cell or across membranes. MOMA’s drug discovery and development platform is designed to exploit the dependence of molecular machines on well-coordinated, step-wise changes in protein conformation – a key vulnerability of this class of enzymes. The company has not indicated that it will focus development of its small molecule binders on specific disease areas, but implied that by targeting molecular machines its drugs could treat a variety of disease.

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