Modis Therapeutics, an Oakland, CA-based company developing medicines for patients with rare genetic diseases, raised $30M in Series A funding.
The round was led by F-Prime Capital Partners and OrbiMed. Founding investor Aceras Life Sciences, LLC and new investor Osage University Partners also participated in the financing. In conjunction with the funding, Joshua Grass, former F-Prime Entrepreneur-in-Residence and head of Corporate Development at BioMarin Pharmaceutical, joined as President and Chief Executive Officer. F-Prime’s Ben Auspitz and OrbiMed’s Rishi Gupta have joined the board, with Mr. Auspitz as Chairman.
Led by Joshua Grass, President and Chief Executive Officer, Modis is advancing its lead experimental therapy, MT1621, as a treatment for thymidine kinase 2 deficiency (TK2d), a rare, genetically defined mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) depletion disorder.
TK2d results from inherited mutations in the nuclear TK2 gene and leads to severe muscle weakness and premature death. TK2d symptom onset varies in age from infants to adults and there are currently no approved treatments.
The development of MT1621 is based on research from the lab of Dr. Michio Hirano, the chief of the Division of Neuromuscular Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, the lab of Dr. Ramon Martí, the head of the Neuromuscular and Mitochondrial Pathology Research Group at Vall d’Hebron Research Institute in Barcelona, and other academic collaborators.
Modis has exclusively licensed worldwide rights to data and intellectual property related to a broad range of mtDNA depletion disorders from Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Vall d’Hebron Research Institute.
Beyond MT1621, the company is developing other molecules and therapeutic modalities to treat TK2 deficiency and other mitochondrial diseases with defined genetic causes.
Modis also has offices in New York City.
FinSMEs
01/10/2018