Series A financing co-led by 8VC and DCVC
Bio
Latus Bio, Inc. (“Latus”), a biotechnology company developing
novel gene therapy candidates for disorders of the central nervous
system (CNS), today announced its launch and an initial close of
$54 million in Series A financing. The funding round is being led
by 8VC and DCVC Bio. To date, Samsung Life Science Fund (created by
Samsung C&T, Samsung Biologics, Samsung Bioepis and Samsung
Venture Investment Corporation), The Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia Foundation, Benjamin Franklin Technology Partners,
Modi Ventures, and Gaingels have joined as syndicate partners.
Originating from the lab of co-founder Professor Beverly
Davidson at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Latus
is developing CNS gene therapy candidates, using proprietary
technologies that have been used to identify and engineer novel
adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsid variants with the aim of
showing unprecedented potency, specificity, and safety.
AAV-mediated gene therapy has long held promise for the
treatment of genetically-defined CNS disorders; but, until now, it
has been limited by its inability to transduce specific CNS
substructures and cell types with requisite specificity. These
limitations have led to the reliance on high-dose injections that
cause off-target toxicity and difficulties in scalable
manufacturing. Latus’s proprietary technologies aim to directly
address these challenges by enabling massively paralleled and
unbiased screening of novel AAV capsids directly in non-human
primates (“NHP”). In these preclinical NHP models, Latus’s capsid
variants demonstrated high gene expression in precise CNS locations
with target cell specificity and minimal-to-no off-tissue activity.
Based on these preclinical data, Latus plans to administer low
doses of its product candidates in clinical studies, with the goal
of improving safety and enabling successful manufacturing.
"We are excited to introduce Latus and our novel approaches to
developing AAV-mediated gene therapies, which we believe have the
potential to transform the treatment landscape for
genetically-defined CNS disorders,” said P. Peter Ghoroghchian, CEO
of Latus. "With this initial close of our Series A financing, we
are poised to accelerate the development of our innovative
candidates for CLN2 disease - with first-in-human dosing planned in
late 2025 - and for Huntington’s disease, as we seek to address
these challenging conditions."
The Company’s management team is composed of experienced and
respected leaders in gene therapy and neuroscience. Led by CEO P.
Peter Ghoroghchian, a physician-scientist and serial biotechnology
entrepreneur, the team brings a wealth of experience in advancing
innovative therapies from platform identification to preclinical
discovery and through successful clinical development. Latus
co-founder Professor Beverly Davidson and Latus Chief Scientific
Officer Dr. Jang-Ho Cha are recent recipients of the 2023
Hereditary Disease Foundation's Transformative Research Award in
recognition of their innovative approach to advancing Huntington’s
disease research. The award is designed to move the most innovative
work in Huntington’s disease from concept to practice by funding
collaborative research teams who are focused on creating new
disease-modifying treatments and transformational new insights to
the Huntington’s disease research field; the 2023 Transformative
Research Awards were the largest grants ever awarded by the
Hereditary Disease Foundation.
Francisco Gimenez, Partner at 8VC, commented, "We are proud to
help Dr. Davidson translate her incredible work at CHOP into Latus.
It is so exciting to see the Davidson Lab’s deep insights in AAV
therapies coupled with a dream team of drug developers. Empowering
this science, team, and mission is the kind of work that makes you
so grateful to be an investor.”
Kiersten Stead, Managing Partner at DCVC Bio, said, “The team at
Latus has aggregated an immense pool of technology and know-how
that we believe could lead them to overcome limitations that have
been plaguing the modality—specifically the interconnectedness
between therapy manufacturing, specificity, and therapeutic
window.”
Latus is attending this year's American Society of Gene &
Cell Therapy (ASGCT) 27th Annual Meeting in Baltimore, MD, May 7 –
11, 2024; Latus co-founder Professor Beverly Davidson will be a
conference keynote speaker. Her address will showcase the Company's
progress and the vast potential of its technology to solve unmet
needs in CNS gene therapy.
Latus Management Team
Peter Ghoroghchian, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer
Dr. P. Peter Ghoroghchian is an American physician-scientist,
bioengineer and serial biotechnology entrepreneur. Prior to his
current position as CEO of Latus, he most recently served as
co-founder, President and CEO of Ceptur Therapeutics. He was
previously Senior Vice President and Head of Therapeutic
Development at Repertoire Immune Medicines, Chief Technology
Officer at Poseida Therapeutics, as well as co-founder and Chief
Scientific Officer at Vindico NanoBioTechnology. Earlier in his
career, Dr. Ghoroghchian was an attending physician in the Susan F.
Smith Center for Women’s Cancers at the Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute and ran an independent research laboratory as the Charles
W. and Jennifer C. Johnson Clinical Investigator in the Koch
Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT.
Jang-Ho Cha, MD, PhD, Chief Scientific and Medical
Officer
Jang-Ho Cha, MD, PhD, is a neurologist and neuroscientist who
has dedicated his career to the study and treatment of
neurodegenerative disorders. Prior to Latus, Dr. Cha held
leadership positions at the Novartis Institute for BioMedical
Research, where he headed Translational Medicine for Neuroscience,
as well as at Merck. He has served on the Scientific Advisory Board
of the Hereditary Disease Foundation, as the Chairman of the Board
of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America and was part of the
team that helped discover the HTT gene for Huntington’s Disease.
Dr. Cha also had a long academic career at Massachusetts General
Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he treated patients with
neurologic disorders and ran an independent research laboratory
focused on the molecular mechanisms of Huntington’s disease.
John Connelly, Chief Development Officer
John Connelly is a seasoned biotechnology executive who has led
drug development teams in advancing therapeutics from discovery and
into the clinic. Prior to Latus, Mr. Connelly was SVP, Portfolio
Strategy and R&D Operations, at Akouos, leading the development
of a novel device that enables delivery of AAV candidates directly
into the cochlea for the treatment of genetic hearing loss. Prior
to Akouos, Mr. Connelly held the position of VP, Program and
Alliance Management, at Voyager Therapeutics and co-led Voyager’s
clinical program in Parkinson’s. Mr. Connelly started his career at
the Genzyme Corporation, where he held many positions in Program
Management, culminating in heading the Program Management function
for Rare Diseases.
About Latus
Latus is a patient-centric and product-oriented gene therapy
company founded by members of the academic lab of Professor Beverly
Davidson - Chief Scientific Strategy Officer of the Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia and co-founder of Spark Therapeutics. Its
proprietary AAV capsids have been identified by screening tens of
millions of novel variants directly in non-human primates (NHPs),
using optimized routes for clinical administration. In preclinical
NHP studies, Latus’s product candidates exhibited high gene
expression in precise locations in the central nervous system (CNS)
with cellular specificity and minimal off-tissue activity. As a
result, Latus plans to administer low doses of its product
candidates, with the goal of improving clinical safety and enabling
successful manufacturing. Latus has three development candidates
and plans to enter the clinic with its first gene therapy product
candidate in 2025. Latus is advancing a robust pipeline of product
candidates in development for both rare and common CNS
diseases.
Latus is based in Philadelphia, PA and will be opening a second
site in the Seaport of Boston, MA on June 1st, 2024. For more
information about Latus and its innovative gene therapy development
technologies, visit www.latusbio.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240502968167/en/
Hailey Hiss DCVC Bio hailey.hiss@dcvc.com