Pandion Therapeutics, Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based biotechnology company developing bispecific antibody therapeutics to achieve localized immunomodulation, completed a $58m Series A financing.
The round was co-led by Polaris Partners, Versant Ventures and Roche Venture Fund, with participation from SR One and BioInnovation Capital.
The company intends to use the funds to advance its initial drug programs for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases toward the clinic, as well as to continue building its technology platform and pipeline.
Led by Chief Executive Officer Anthony J. Coyle, PhD and Chief Scientific Officer Jo Viney, PhD., Pandion has developed a proprietary therapeutic platform based on bispecific antibodies with targeting fragments that bind to specific tissues at the local site of inflammatory disease, coupled with effector molecules that modulate immune activity in order to restore immune homeostasis. The localized immunomodulation of bispecific antibodies is designed to provide a durable, tissue-specific effect at the site of disease, while avoiding the systemic immunosuppression of current treatments for autoimmune diseases and transplantation.
In developing its proprietary platform, the company has translated insights from recent advances in the field of immune system regulation, including immuno-oncology discoveries about pathways by which tumors avoid immune recognition and induce long-term immune tolerance.
Pandion has filed multiple patents covering its technology platform and applications. Initial areas of drug development include inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune liver disease, kidney diseases, type 1 diabetes, and autoimmune skin conditions.
The company’s founders include Coyle, Viney, Alan Crane, serial entrepreneur and partner at Polaris Partners; and David Sachs, MD, renowned clinician and expert in transplantation and immunology.
In conjunction with this transaction, Carlo Rizzuto, PhD, partner at Versant Ventures, Mitchell Mutz, PhD, investment director at Roche Venture Fund, and Vikas Goyal, principal at SR One, will join Mr. Crane and Dr. Coyle as members of Pandion’s board of directors.
FinSMEs
18/01/2018