Encoded Therapeutics, Inc., a South Francisco, Calif.-based precision gene therapy company, raised $135m in Series D financing.
The round was led by GV (formerly Google Ventures) with participation from Matrix Capital Management, ARCH Venture Partners, Illumina Ventures, RTW Investments, Boxer Capital, Nolan Capital, HBM Genomics, Menlo Ventures, Meritech Capital, Farallon Capital Management, SoftBank Vision Fund 21, and additional unnamed investors. In conjunction with the funding, David Schenkein, M.D., general partner and co-leader of GV’s life sciences team, will join the Encoded Board of Directors as an observer.
Led by co-founder and chief executive officer, Kartik Ramamoorthi, Ph.D., Encoded is a biotechnology company developing precision gene therapies for a broad range of severe genetic disorders. It is advancing its lead asset, ETX101, for the treatment of SCN1A+ Dravet Syndrome by leveraging a discovery engine that combines biological and computational approaches to identify and screen human DNA sequences known as regulatory elements at a high throughput scale.
The company intends to use the funds to advance its lead asset, ETX101, which was granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) and Rare Pediatric Disease Designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of SCN1A+ Dravet Syndrome.
Proceeds from the Series D will be used to conduct clinical trial activities including a natural history study to better understand the progression of SCN1A+ Dravet Syndrome as well as first-in-human trials for ETX101. Additionally, the funds will support progression of the company’s pipeline of gene therapies being evaluated for additional pediatric CNS disorders.
FinSMEs
23/07/2020