VC Deals At A Glance
Company	Financing
Frontier Medicines Corp.; South San Francisco	The precision medicine company, which closed a $67m series A round in 2019, said on 19 July that it raised $88.5m in a series B round led by Woodline Partners LP and RA Capital Management. (Also see "Finance Watch: Venture Cash Flows For European Companies" - Scrip, 5 July, 2019.) Frontier will use the proceeds to further develop its platform technologies and advance its growing pipeline of targeted therapies, including an inhibitor of activated and inactivated KRAS G12C, the same target for Amgen, Inc.’s newly approved lung cancer drug Lumakras (sotorasib). (Also see "Amgen Wins World-First Lumakras Approval, Faces Challenge Of COVID-Era Launch" - Scrip, 29 May, 2021.)
Turnstone Biologics, Inc.; New York	Cancer immunotherapy developer Turnstone revealed an $80m series D round led by PFM Health Sciences and Point72 on 21 July. The company will use the proceeds to advance its lead programs, including lead oncolytic virus RIVAL-01/TAK-605, which is being evaluated in a Phase I/IIa solid tumor clinical trial under a deal signed in late 2019 with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (Also see "Deal Watch: Roche Partners With Rheos To Develop Novel Immunometabolism Therapeutics" - Scrip, 19 December, 2019.) Lead tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) candidate TIDAL-01, also for solid tumors, is expected to enter the clinic early next year.
Vedanta Biosciences Inc; Cambridge, MA	Microbiome-focused Vedanta announced on 21 July that it closed a Magnetar Capital-led $68m series D round, which follows a $62.1m series C round, including $16.6m in series C-2 funding announced in September of 2019. (Also see "Finance Watch: Deerfield Invests $635m In New York Start-Ups, Pledges $2bn Globally By 2030 " - Scrip, 27 September, 2019.) The company will use the fresh capital to conduct a Phase III clinical trial of VE303 in recurrent Clostridioides difficile infections and a Phase II trial of VE202 in mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis, and to advance other programs.
Ribon Therapeutics, Inc.; Cambridge, MA	Ribon said on 14 July that it closed a $65m financing led by Deerfield Management and US Venture Partners to fund clinical development of its novel precision medicines, including RBN-2397 for cancer and RBN-3143 for inflammation. The company’s small molecules target enzyme families activated under cellular stress conditions that contribute to disease. Ribon raised a $65m series B round at the start of 2019. (Also see "Finance Watch: Former Juno Execs Launch Sana With Allogeneic Cell Therapy Platform" - Scrip, 7 January, 2019.)
Entos Inc.; San Diego	On 14 July, Entos said it raised a $53m series A round led by Coatue and Catalio Capital Management to fund its artificial intelligence-driven technology platform, which aims to accelerate the discovery and development process for drugs and other products. The company already has engaged partners in the pharmaceutical, chemical and materials industries.
Coave Therapeutics; Paris	The gene therapy developer formerly known as HORAMA S.A. said on 21 July that it closed a €33m ($39m) series B round led by Seroba Life Sciences. ([A# SC144760])
Rivus Pharmaceuticals; Charlottesville, NC	The company reported on 20 July that it completed a $35m series A round led by Longitude Capital and Medicxi with participation from RxCapital. Rivus is developing small molecules call Controlled Metabolic Accelerators (CMAs) to improve cellular metabolism in the treatment of highly prevalent metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, severe hypertriglyceridemia, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and heart failure. Lead CMA candidate HU6 is in a Phase IIa clinical trial.
PAQ Therapeutics; Cambridge, MA	PAQ launched on 15 July with $30m from a series A round led by Sherpa Healthcare Partners. The company is developing small molecules that are designed to catalyze autophagy-dependent degradation of disease-causing proteins and non-protein substrates. It will use the series A proceeds to advance it pipeline programs, including a lead drug candidate for a genetic neurodegenerative disorder.
Stemson Therapeutics; San Diego	The hair loss-focused therapeutics developer said on 15 July that it raised a $15m series A round led by DCVC Bio with participation from Genoa Ventures, AbbVie Ventures and others. The proceeds will fund development of novel cell regeneration technology that uses patients’ own cells to generate new hair follicles.

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