DiCE Molecules Raises $60M in Series C-1 Financing

DiCE Molecules, a San Francisco, CA-based biopharmaceutical company leveraging its proprietary DNA-encoded library platform to discover and develop next-generation therapeutics in immunology and other therapeutic areas, completed its $60m Series C-1 financing.

The round was led by RA Capital Management and Sands Capital, with participation from new investors Janus Henderson Investors, Deep Track Capital and Logos Capital, as well as existing investors Northpond Ventures, Eventide Asset Management, Driehaus Capital Management, Soleus Capital, New Leaf Venture Partners, Osage University Partners and Asymmetry Capital Management.

The company, which has raised approximately $200m to date, intends to use the funds to advance:

• advance its preclinical IL-17 antagonist franchise into clinical development,
• advance its preclinical α4ß7 and αVß1/αVß6 integrin programs,
• expand its pipeline, and
• for other general corporate purposes.

DiCE Molecules is a biopharmaceutical company leveraging its proprietary technology platform to build a pipeline of novel oral therapeutic candidates to treat chronic diseases in immunology and other therapeutic areas. It is initially focused on developing oral therapeutics against well validated targets in immunology, with the goal of achieving comparable potency to their systemic biologic counterparts, which have demonstrated the greatest therapeutic benefit to date in these disease areas. The company’s platform is designed to discover selective oral small molecules with the potential to modulate protein-protein interactions (PPIs) as effectively as systemic biologics.

DiCE Molecules’ lead therapeutic candidate, S011806, is an oral antagonist of the pro-inflammatory signaling molecule, interleukin-17 (IL-17), which is a validated drug target implicated in a variety of immunology indications. The company is also developing oral therapeutic candidates targeting α4ß7 integrin and αVß1/αVß6 integrin for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, respectively.

FinSMEs

24/08/2021