San Francisco startup MyoKardia just closed a $46 million Series B for its precision medicine approach to genetic heart disease.
The startup’s studying the genetic root cause of hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies – defects which result in the thickening or weakening off heart tissues, respectively. The funding will help advance its lead drug candidate, MYK-461, which is in Phase 1 trials for the hypertrophic form of the disease. It believes the approach can stop and possibly reverse the course of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, by targeting one of the main molecular mechanisms that causes the disease.
Investors have quickly placed a lot of confidence in MyoKardia’s approach to cardiovascular disease. The cash influx comes from an undisclosed public investment fund, Casdin Capital, Cormorant Asset Management, Perceptive Life Sciences and BridgeBio. Sanofi, an existing investor, also participated in the round. It was launched by Third Rock in 2012, which $38 million in venture raised previously, and notably set up a $200 million deal with Sanofi.
