Veteran life science execs raise $150M for cancer drug targeting hard-to-treat tumors – San Diego Union-Tribune

Veteran life science execs lead new company to big fundraising round

The day that Athena Countouriotis, then the CEO of Turning Point Therapeutics, announced that the San Diego biotech was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb for $4.1 billion, people were already asking her: what’s next?

Less than a year later, in 2022 she partnered with Turning Point’s chief medical officer, Mohammad Hirmand to launch Avenzo Therapeutics, a clinical stage oncology company. It’s a common story in San Diego — established biotech leaders pouring their success and experience back into the community to create the next innovative company.

This week, Avenzo exceeded its initial fundraising goal of $45 million, to bring in a $150 million Series A round. To date, the company has raised about $347 million.

“The environment has definitely changed versus where it was at the latter part of last year,” said Countouriotis, CEO of Avenzo.

As for exceeding financing expectations, Countouriotis attributes that to the experience of Avenzo’s team, the data behind its lead drug and what the company wants to pursue next in its pipeline.

The fundraising round brought in nine new investors and was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Deep Track Capital, Sofinnova Investments and Sands Capital.

Avenzo’s lead drug is an oral medication targeting a specific way that tumors develop resistance to other therapies. It would tackle metastatic breast cancer and some solid tumors, which she said taps an unmet need for patients who hit a wall and stop responding to three drugs currently on the market.

Countouriotis said they are studying how the potency of the drug could allow for it to be taken only once a day, while its selective way of targeting resistant pathways of cancer could potentially minimize side effects that have been seen in other similar drugs.

The financing will help Avenzo advance its lead drug through clinical trials, expand its pipeline of drugs for other cancers, such as ovarian, and grow its team — currently 15 people. She said it will capitalize the company through next year and they already have their sights set on striking a couple of more deals later this year.

New biotech company launches with $400M financing

There’s a new biotech company in town making a splash with $400 million in initial funding and an established local leadership team. Mirador Therapeutics is laser focused on bringing cutting edge precision medicine for immune-mediated inflammatory and fibrotic diseases.

The company is helmed by Mark C. McKenna and a slate of former executives from Prometheus Biosciences, a local biotech focused on treatments for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Last April, Merck bought Prometheus for $10.8 billion.

San Diego’s newest biotech company hopes to accelerate the research and discovery of viable medicines through Mirador360, its proprietary precision development engine that leverages genetic information and data science.

“At Mirador, we envision a bold new era of precision medicine for immune-mediated inflammatory and fibrotic diseases driven by speed and superior development accuracy,” said McKenna, chairman and CEO of Mirador in the March 21 announcement. “The industry has only scratched the surface of utilizing advances in human genetics – coupled with exponential progress in machine learning — to accelerate the development of precision therapies for patients who need them the most.”

The financing was led by ARCH Venture Partners.

Boundless Bio starts trading on the Nasdaq

This week, Boundless Bio began trading its stock on the Nasdaq Global Market, officially making it the first San Diego life science IPO this year.

The company priced its stock at $16 per share and offered 6,250,000 of its common stock on Thursday. It ended its first day of trading down at $14.25 per share.

The company expects to raise approximately $88.4 million to $102.3 million through its initial public offering. It will use the money to further develop its cancer therapies and to advance its drugs through clinical trials.

Founded in 2018, Boundless is a clinical-stage oncology company developing a novel approach to block certain genes from morphing cells into tumors. It is working through clinical trials for its small molecule therapies that target extrachromosomal DNA — genetic material associated with certain cancers.

It has 72 full-time employees as of March 1 and operates out of Alexandria GradLabs in La Jolla.

Spine-tech company Carlsmed raises $52.5M Series C

A local medical technology company that has tapped into artificial intelligence for spine surgery has landed $52.5 million in financing. Carlsmed announced on March 18 that it exceeded its Series C fundraising expectations.

The North County company is developing a personalized spine surgery platform with the goal of improving outcomes and lowering costs for patients. Its software platform and implantable devices have received certain clearances from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Carlsmed, which is part of local tech incubator Evonexus, said it will use the financing to fast-track the commercialization of its personalized spine surgery platform, aprevo, which will launch next year.

“We started Carlsmed to improve patient outcomes through personalized surgery, and recent clinical publications indicate that aprevo patient specific implants are achieving this goal,” said Mike Cordonnier, CEO of Carlsmed, in the announcement. “Our AI-enabled technology platform and innovative business model allows us to scale production rapidly to meet growing demand and empower patients.”

The fundraising round was co-led by B Capital and U.S. Venture Partners.

Send tips and local life science news to: natallie.rocha@sduniontribune.com

Originally Published: March 30, 2024 at 9:00 AM PST