858 Therapeutics, a San Diego CA-based biotechnology and drug discovery company, raised $60M in Series A funding.
The round was led by Versant Ventures, with participation from NEA, Cormorant Asset Management and Logos Capital.
The company intends to use the funds to enter the clinic with its lead candidates that have potential to treat cancers that are resistant to current therapies and to expand its team to about 40 people within the next 18 months.
Led by CEO Jeffrey Stafford, 858 Therapeutics is developing a portfolio of small molecules directed against novel therapeutic targets in oncology, including proteins that regulate RNA and the innate immune response. The company has built a platform to assess the impact of RNA-modifying proteins on disease biology and has generated a pipeline of small molecules against priority targets.
858’s founding team includes CEO Jeffrey Stafford, Ph.D., CSO James Veal, Ph.D., and VP of Biology Gretchen Bain, Ph.D. They previously held leadership roles at three other San Diego-based discovery companies co-founded by Versant including Jecure Therapeutics, Quanticel Pharmaceuticals and Amira Pharmaceuticals. Jecure developed therapies against innate immunity targets to treat serious inflammatory diseases and was acquired by Genentech in 2018. Quanticel developed DNA-modulating drug candidates and was acquired by Celgene in 2015. Amira developed anti-fibrotic small molecules and was acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2011.
The management team has been responsible for the discovery of over 20 drug candidates that have advanced into clinical trials, including the approved drugs VotrientTM (pazopanib) and NesinaTM (alogliptin).
858 is headquartered in San Diego and will maintain lab operations both in San Diego and New York City.
FinSMEs
22/09/2021