GRO Biosciences Closes $60M Series B Financing Co-Led by Atlas Venture and Access Biotechnology
19 Julio 2024 - 5:50AM
Business Wire
Proceeds to advance clinical development of
lead program for gout, broaden the Company’s pipeline, and expand
its genomically recoded organism platform
GRO Biosciences Inc. (“GRObio”), a biotechnology company
leveraging synthetic biology to expand the amino acid alphabet and
deliver on the promise of protein therapeutics, today announced the
closing of an oversubscribed $60.3 million Series B financing.
Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance the Company’s
lead program into the clinic for the treatment of refractory gout,
to broaden the GRObio pipeline, and to expand its genomically
recoded organism (GRO) platform for scalable production of
therapeutics incorporating multiple non-standard amino acids
(NSAAs).
The Series B financing brings the total capital raised by GRObio
to more than $90 million and was co-led by new investors Atlas
Venture and Access Biotechnology. Previous investors including
Leaps by Bayer, Redmile Group, Digitalis Ventures and Innovation
Endeavors also participated. In connection with the financing,
Kevin Bitterman, PhD, Partner at Atlas Venture and Dan Becker, MD,
PhD, Managing Director at Access Biotechnology, have joined the
Company’s Board of Directors.
GRObio’s lead program, ProGly-Uricase, is being developed for
the treatment of severe, refractory gout, a type of arthritis that
causes debilitating inflammation in joints due to excessive
accumulation of uric acid. The only therapy available to patients
who do not respond to front-line treatments is a uricase enzyme
that breaks up uric acid crystal deposits and reduces circulating
uric acid levels. However, most patients receiving uricase therapy
rapidly develop anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) that clear the enzyme
from circulation, compromising safety and efficacy and leaving
patients without treatment options.
ProGly-Uricase is a proprietary uricase enzyme incorporating the
Company’s ProGly NSAAs to prevent the emergence of ADAs and enable
patients with severe, refractory gout to maintain long-term
effective control of serum uric acid levels. The Series B financing
enables the Company to rapidly demonstrate proof of concept for
ProGly-Uricase in a clinical study of human subjects with elevated
uric acid levels.
ProGly NSAAs contain sugar molecules called glycans that confer
precise control over the immune response to proteins. The glycans
in ProGly NSAAs educate the immune system to recognize the
underlying therapy as a “self” protein rather than a foreign
protein, preventing an immune response. The technology is
immediately extensible to a wide array of immunogenic therapies
beyond uricase. ProGly therapies are also being developed to treat
and prevent autoimmune disease without broadly suppressing the
immune system by conferring highly specific tolerance to
disease-causing autoantigens.
“We are thrilled to partner with new investors Atlas Venture and
Access Biotechnology, whose participation complements the continued
support of our existing investors,” said Dan Mandell, PhD, Chief
Executive Officer of GRObio. “Having proved our therapeutic
approach preclinically and demonstrated scalability of our GRO
platform, we have assembled the ideal team to advance GRObio to a
clinical-stage company. This financing enables us to acquire
valuable clinical efficacy data in gout, while expanding our
platform to demonstrate the first scalable production of proteins
with multiple NSAAs, including simultaneous incorporation of drug,
immune recruitment, and tissue-targeting payloads.”
Kevin Bitterman, PhD, Partner at Atlas Venture, commented,
"GRObio has built the industry-leading platform for discovery and
production of therapeutics with non-standard amino acids. The
Company has a clear and differentiated path to multiple commercial
opportunities, starting with the pressing unmet need in severe,
refractory gout. Atlas Venture is excited to partner with this
outstanding team and to bring this revolutionary technology to the
clinic.”
Dan Becker, MD, PhD, Managing Director at Access Biotechnology,
added, “GRObio’s ProGly programs offer novel solutions to patients
with few, if any, viable treatment options. By partnering with
GRObio we look forward to bringing significant improvements in
quality of life to patients in need across the full range of
indications accessible to the GRO platform.”
About GRO Biosciences
GRO Biosciences (“GRObio”) is leveraging groundbreaking science
to expand the amino acid alphabet and deliver on the promise of
protein therapeutics. The Company is transforming treatments in
diverse areas including autoimmune and metabolic diseases to
improve the lives of patients. GRObio is applying its platform to
advance partnered and collaborative programs, as well as its own
pipeline of protein therapeutics bearing unique non-standard amino
acid (NSAA) chemistries. The Company’s NSAA therapeutics feature
previously unattainable capabilities including precise regulation
of the immune system and unprecedented duration of action. GRObio
is headquartered in Cambridge, MA.
Find GRObio on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and the
web at grobio.com.
About Atlas Venture
Atlas Venture is a leading biotech venture capital firm. With
the goal of doing well by doing good, we have been building
breakthrough biotech startups for over 25 years. We work side by
side with exceptional scientists and entrepreneurs to translate
high impact science into medicines for patients. Our seed-led
venture creation strategy rigorously selects and focuses investment
on the most compelling opportunities to build scalable businesses
and realize value. For more information, please visit
www.atlasventure.com.
About Access Biotechnology
Access Biotechnology is the biopharma investment arm of Access
Industries, a U.S.-based private holding company and investment
firm. Access invests in private and public companies developing
transformative therapies for conditions with high unmet needs
across therapeutic areas, modalities, and development stages – from
discovery-stage technology platforms to late-stage clinical
programs. For more information, please visit
www.accessindustries.com/biotechnology/.
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