Pharma, Startups

Epigenetics player Constellation Pharma raises $5 million; launches two new clinical trials

Right on the heels of embarking on two new Phase 1 trials, epigenetics player Constellation Pharma […]

Right on the heels of embarking on two new Phase 1 trials, epigenetics player Constellation Pharma has raised $5 million  in an internal round from existing investors – a solid chunk of change.

“It’s just the amount we needed to top off our balance sheet in order to take the company to a decision point for a potential acquisition from Genentech,” Chief Financial Officer Matthias Jaffe said in a phone interview.

Cambridge-based Constellation Pharma in 2012 announced, after all, that following a $95 million up-front payment from Roche’s Genentech it had the exclusive option to be acquired by the biotech behemoth.

Constellation Pharmaceuticals also announced it has begun two additional Phase 1 clinical studies of its lead drug, CPI-0610. One trial focuses on patients with multiple myeloma, and the other studies the drug in patients with acute leukemias or myelodysplastic syndrome. It has been in Phase 1 testing of the drug in patients with lymphoma since September 2013.

Thanks to beginning the two new studies, Constellation also received a $1.5 million milestone from its partnership from The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Constellation Pharma is developing two epigenetic platforms – using bromodomain and extra-terminal proteins, or BETs, as well as a histone lysine methyltransferase called EZH2. These enzymes can activate or deactivate specific disease-causing genes, and modulate chromatin structures, thereby killing off cancerous cells.

It was founded in 2008, and has recieved more than $50 million in funding to date – though its last equity raise was in 2011. On top of that, in 2012 it received $95 million in an up-front fee from Roche’s Genentech – with the aforementioned buyout option – that said it’d fund the company’s research over a three-year period.

The company has serious ties to Third Rock Ventures – it was founded by Mark Levin and is led by former Third Rock entrepreneur-in-residence Keith Dionne. The company has also received investment from The Column Group, Venrock, SR-One and Altitude Life Science Ventures.

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