Company	Investors	Use Of Proceeds
Cullinan Oncology LLC, Cambridge, MA	New institutional investors, family offices and founding investors MPM Capital and F2 Ventures provided $98.5m in series B financing announced on 4 June. Cullinan raised a $150m series A round in 2017. (Also see "Venture Funding Deals: From ADC To Y-mAbs, Capital Flows For New Platforms, Novel Approaches" - Scrip, 10 November, 2017.)	The company is developing small molecule and biologic medicines for cancer that it has sourced internally and externally and is developing through a global network of partners. (Also see "Cullinan To Search For Oncology’s Diamonds In The Rough" - Scrip, 3 October, 2017.) It has taken seven assets through preclinical and initial human studies, including Cullinan Pearl, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets EGFR exon 20 mutations. It was licensed from Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. last year. (Also see "Deal Watch: Xencor Adds New Bispecific Partner In Agreement With Genentech" - Scrip, 6 February, 2019.)
Athira Pharma Inc., Seattle	Athira said on 4 June that Perceptive Advisors led its $85m series B round with participation from new investors RTW Investments, Viking Global Investors, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, Franklin Templeton, Rock Springs Capital, LifeSci Venture Partners, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), Highside Capital Management, Logos Capital, funds managed by Janus Henderson Investors, Sofinnova Investments and Avidity Partners, and from existing investors, including Rick and Suzanne Kayneand Sahsen Ventures.	The company aims to develop novel regenerative medicines that may restore brain function and will use the series B proceeds to take lead candidate NDX-1017 into a Phase II/III clinical trial for Alzheimer’s disease. The cash also will allow Athira to explore the potential of compounds in its pipeline for a range of central and peripheral neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders.
Cognition Therapeutics Inc., New York	The National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, awarded the company a five-year, $78.5m grant, Cognition announced on 8 June. The grant will support a 540-patient Phase II study of CT1812 in early Alzheimer’s disease, which will be conducted in conjunction with the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium.	Cognition launched in 2009 and is focused on the protection and restoration of synaptic function in neurodegenerative disorders. (Also see "Cognition Therapeutics Inc." - Scrip, 1 July, 2010.) CT1812 is a brain-penetrant small molecule that targets the sigma-2 receptor, a key regulator of the cellular damage response, to displace toxic amyloid-beta oligomers from synapses and prevent further oligomer binding.
Prilenia Therapeutics BV, Naarden, The Netherlands and Herzliya, Israel	Prilenia said on 3 June that Forbion led its $62.5m series A round with participation from new investors Morningside Venture Investments and Sectoral Asset Management with existing investors Talisman Capital Partners and Genworks 2.	The company has raised $84.5m since its founding in September 2018 and will use the new funds to conduct a Phase III trial for the sigma-1 receptor (S1R) agonist pridopidine in Huntington’s disease and to test the drug in the first-ever platform trial for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) candidates, which will be led by the Healey Center for ALS at [Massachusetts General Hospital]. Both are expected to start in the second half of 2020.
NodThera Ltd., Cambridge, UK, Boston and Seattle	The company revealed on 3 June that it closed a $55m series B round led by Novo Ventures with participation from new investors Cowen Healthcare Investments and Sanofi Ventures as well as prior backers 5AM Ventures, F-Prime Capital, Sofinnova Partners and founding investor Epidarex Capital.	NodThera, which is developing NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors to treat chronic inflammation, will used the series B proceeds to fund ongoing clinical development of NT-0167, advance additional compounds (including brain-penetrant candidates) and for drug discovery. (Also see "Targeting Exciting Inflammasome Field, NodThera Raises $55m" - Scrip, 3 June, 2020.) The company closed a £28m series A round in 2018. (Also see "Inflammasome's Time Has Come, Says Ex-GSK NodThera Chief After £28m Financing" - Scrip, 25 June, 2018.)
TAE Life Sciences, Foothill Ranch, CA	TAE said on 4 June that it closed a $30m series B round from a consortium of investors, including ARTIS Ventures, which participated in the company’s $40m series A round in 2018. (Also see "Medtech Money Flow, Weekly M&A And VC Deals, March 12-18, 2018" - Medtech Insight, 19 March, 2018.)	The company is developing small molecule antibody-boron conjugates and biodegradable nanoparticles for use in radiation therapy. It is developing next-generation boron-10 drugs in conjunction with a neutron accelerator system.
Shorla Pharma Ltd., Dublin and Clonmel, Ireland	Seroba Life Sciences led an $8.3m series A round that Shorla announced on 3 June with participation from Irish and Canadian family offices and Enterprise Ireland.	Shorla, operating from the accelerator Questum in Clonmel, is developing treatments for cancers affecting women and children. The series A cash is expected to fund the company’s initial programs through late-stage trials and registration.

Finance Watch: New Funding Available For Antibacterials, Start-Ups

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