Investing
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Profitability Is King in 2024’s Fundraising Environment, Expert Says
This year’s digital health fundraising environment requires startups to focus more on their unit economics and pathway to profitability, according to Ian Wijaya, managing director at Lazard. He predicted that the ability to achieve profitability will be much more important in 2024 than it has been in the past four years or so.
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Goldman Sachs Closes $650M Fund to Invest in ‘Golden Era’ of Biotech Innovation
Goldman Sachs’s new fund—its first dedicated to life sciences—will focus on early- to mid-stage therapeutics companies with multiple assets. Genetic medicine, cell therapy, immunotherapy, and artificial intelligence are among the areas of investment interest for the firm.
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Trayt Health Seeks to Increase Access to Diagnoses and Treatments
CEO Malekeh Amini explains how Trayt Health can bridge the gap for patients seeking neurological care.
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Biotech Startup Triveni Unveils $92M to Address Barrier to Treating Inflammation
Available atopic dermatitis drugs work by blocking inflammation, but Triveni Bio is developing an antibody that addresses a root cause of the chronic condition. The startup is out of stealth to advance its lead program and a pipeline of other inflammation and immunology drugs.
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Avalyn’s New Twist on Older Lung Disease Drugs Attracts $175M for Clinical Trials
Avalyn Pharma aims to improve treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis with inhalable versions of two older oral drugs and it’s now headed for mid-stage testing backed by a Series C financing. Other recent biotech industry financings raised money for research in cancer, immunology, and rare genetic diseases.
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Structure Raises $300M as Oral GLP-1 Drug’s Data Keep Up With Pfizer, Eli Lilly
Preliminary weight loss and safety data for Structure Therapeutics’ drug candidate suggest it’s competitive with other oral GLP-1 targeting contenders from big pharma companies. The data are from a small study and a short time frame, but Structure was able to leverage the encouraging preliminary results into a private placement of securities.
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Startup Magnet Biomedicine Attracts $50M to Expand Scope of Molecular Glue Drugs
Magnet Biomedicine builds on decades of molecular glue research from its scientific co-founder, Harvard University Professor Stuart Schreiber. The startup is developing drugs that take these glues beyond the biotech industry’s current focus on targeted protein degradation.
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RayzeBio, Neumora Perk Up the IPO Market, Raising $561M for Clinical Trials
RayzeBio’s IPO will support pivotal testing of a targeted radiopharmaceutical for cancer patients who progress after treatment with Novartis’s Lutathera. Neumora will apply its IPO cash toward Phase 3 testing of a depression drug with a novel mechanism of action.
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Neuro Startup Arialys Raises $58M for Privilege of Tackling Brain Inflammation
Avalon BioVentures unveiled new portfolio company Arialys Therapeutics. The startup’s lead program, an antibody from Astellas Pharma, is a potential treatment for anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis (ANRE), a rare autoimmune inflammatory disorder.
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Twice Rejected Diabetes Drug/Device Product Gets New Chance at Startup i2o
Intarcia Therapeutics’ GLP-1 agonist product candidate for type 2 diabetes now belongs to i2o Therapeutics, which will make the treatment’s case for approval at an upcoming FDA advisory committee meeting. The startup’s $46 million Series A financing is one of several recently announced funding rounds.
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Improving Communication Between Patients and Providers
Sarah Shillington, Chief Customer Officer notes how Artera’s omnichannel platform works.
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VC Report: Biotech Financings Fall, M&A Activity Expected to Pick Up
Biotech startups raised $2.6 billion globally in the second quarter of this year, but that’s down nearly 46% compared to the same period last year, according to a report from Pitchbook. Capital is harder to find, and the report projects an uptick in M&A activity as companies run out of cash.
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RA Capital Leads $150M Financing for Septerna and Lead Drug With Oral Edge in Rare Hormone Disease
Septerna Therapeutics’ Series B financing will support plans to reach the clinic with a pill for a rare disease whose only approved therapy is a Takeda Pharmaceutical drug that’s leaving the market. Potential rival therapies are all injectables.
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A Father’s Vision for New Kind of Gene Therapy Leads to a $100M Financing
Ray Therapeutics’ gene therapy is independent of the causative genes driving inherited vision disorders, which CEO Paul Bresge says is important for reaching a broad patient population. Rare disease retinitis pigmentosa is the first disease target, but the startup also plans to test its approach in more prevalent eye disorders.
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Startup Therini Bio Lands $36M to Take Blood Protein R&D to Alzheimer’s & More
Merck, Sanofi, and Eli Lilly joined the Series A financing of Therini Bio, a startup developing a drug that selectively targets fibrin as a way of reducing disease-driving inflammation in neurodegeneration and eye disorders such as diabetic macular edema. Therini is preparing to advance its lead program to clinical testing.
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Orbital Therapeutics Raises $270M to Bring RNA-Based Medicines to New Heights
ARCH Venture Partners-backed Orbital Therapeutics’ is researching next-generation RNA medicines that offer advantages over currently available therapies. The startup’s three areas of focus are vaccines, protein replacement, and immunomodulation.
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Biotech Financing Roundup: Envedo Bio, Complement, Abdera, TORL & More
The biggest rounds of recent biotech financings are from startups raising money to advance their research to the clinic. Here’s a look back at funding rounds from companies such as Abdera Therapeutics, Complement Therapeutics, and Enveda Biosciences.