viernes, 20 de diciembre de 2019

The biotech startup that went nearly 10 years without a VC dollar

The Readout
Damian Garde

The biotech startup that went nearly 10 years without a VC dollar

FORMA Therapeutics is breaking with tradition. After nearly 10 years of paying the bills with payments from pharma partners, the Massachusetts company has raised $100 million in venture cash and plans to compete in a crowded field.

As STAT’s Kate Sheridan reports, FORMA’s cash comes from a syndicate that includes includes RA Capital, Cormorant Capital, and Wellington Management. The plan is to focus on FT-4202, an early stage drug meant to treat sickle cell disease by boosting an enzyme called PKR.

But FORMA’s not alone. Agios Pharmaceuticals has a similar treatment already in late-stage development, and Global Blood Therapeutics just won FDA approval for a sickle cell treatment that uses a different mechanism. Meanwhile, on the rise are gene therapies that could bring a one-time treatment for the disease.

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