Pharma, Startups

That RNAi startup whose founder was shot by a disgrunted biotech exec just raised $7.5M

Solstice Biologics, an interesting RNAi therapeutics company that has attracted attention for the wrong reasons, […]

Solstice Biologics, an interesting RNAi therapeutics company that has attracted attention for the wrong reasons, has raised $7.5 million, according to a regulatory filing, building on the $18 million raised last year from venBio and Aeris Capital.  The San Francisco company is figuring out how to get RNAi-based drugs to cross multiple cell types to treat different kinds of tissues. It says:

Less than 10% of the human genome is accessible to current drug discovery technologies. RNAi offers the promise of accessing the remaining 90% or more of the human genome.  However, drug developers have struggled to get RNA molecules across cell membranes. Billions of dollars have been spent trying to derive a general solution to this problem – one that will work in all cell types and tissues – to no avail.

Solstice attracted some attention in June when it recruited Third Rock’s Lou Tartaglia as its chief executive – and even more a year ago when its founder, Steven Dowdy, was shot by the disgruntled CEO of a failed biotech. Alex Lash over at Xconomy wrote a nice piece in June that outlined Solstice’s “high-drama” existence.

“As a VC you have to vet so many things when making investment decisions,” Tartaglia told Xconomy. “Most companies are complex. Solstice is probably more complex, with more drama than typical.”

Perhaps now is  time to revisit an interesting open letter from Dowdy post-shooting, in regards to some accusations that he plagiarized the underlying technology of Solstice from Traversa Therapeutics, the biotech at which shooter Hans Peterson was CEO. The letter begins with, um, a bang:

October 2, 2013

Shame on You Doug Macron!

I’m lying here in pain with a bullet hole that goes in one side of me and out the other having been hit by one of 7 bullets fired from a 45 caliber gun by Hans Petersen from a distance of ~8 feet during his murder attempt on me and my wife, while we and our children were sleeping two weeks ago.

He goes on to outline the differences in the platforms of Solstice and Traversa; it’s interesting stuff. But considering this happened a year ago, it’s probably unnecessary to elaborate further on the incident – Solstice is likely ready to move on. At present, just attempting to figure out what this latest funding round is all about.

 

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