Carbon Biosciences, a Boston, MA-based biotech company advancing novel parvovirus-derived gene therapies, raised $38m in Series A financing.
The round was led by Agent Capital, which is joined by Longwood Fund, Astellas Venture Management LLC, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Solasta Ventures, University of Tokyo Innovation Platform (UTokyoIPC), and Camford Capital.
The company plans to use the Series A funding to advance the development of its programs for genetic diseases, initially building on the research of scientific co-founders John F. Engelhardt, Ph.D., Director, Center for Gene Therapy at the University of Iowa, and Robert M. Kotin, Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology and Physiological Systems at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School.
Founded by Longwood Fund and gene therapy pioneers, John F. Engelhardt, Ph.D., and Robert M. Kotin, Ph.D., and led by Joel Schneider, Ph.D., President and CEO, Carbon Biosciences is expanding the therapeutic potential of gene therapy through its proprietary platform which leverages novel parvoviruses that have been pressure tested by nature to target specific tissues and carry a larger cargo with minimal neutralizing immunity and the potential to re-dose.
In addition to Kotin and Engelhardt, Carbon’s scientific co-founders and scientific advisory board members are among the most experienced thought leaders in the gene therapy field. Carbon’s co-founders are David Steinberg, who served as founding CEO (Longwood Fund); Jianming Qiu, Ph.D., (University of Kansas); Ziying Yan, Ph.D., (University of Iowa); Sebastian Aguirre, Ph.D., (Carbon Biosciences); and Lucy Liu, Ph.D., (Longwood Fund). Carbon’s Scientific Advisory Board consists of John Engelhardt; Jay Chiorini Ph.D., Senior Investigator at NIH National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research; Beverly Davidson, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Strategy Officer at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; and Adrian Thrasher, Ph.D., MBBS, FRCP, MRCP, Professor at University College London (UCL), Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, Head of Infection and Inflammation and Director, Clinical Gene Therapy GMP Facility at UCL.
In conjunction with the financing, Joel Schneider, Ph.D, joins as President and CEO. Chen Schor, Adicet Bio President and CEO, joins as Board Chair. David Steinberg, Geeta Vemuri, Robert Kotin and Derek Yoon, President and CEO of Solasta Ventures, join the Board of Directors.
FinSMEs
21/06/2022