Ascend Gene & Cell Therapies, a London, UK-based company innovating manufacturing processes for gene therapy technologies, raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding.
The round, which brought the total amount raised to date to $132.5M, was led by Abingworth and Petrichor, supported by DCVC Bio, 4BIO Capital, Cathay Health, Deerfield Management, Digitalis Ventures and Ajinomoto Co. Monograph Capital was the original founder. Bali Muralidhar and Andrew Sinclair of Abingworth, Michael Beecham of Petrichor, Eric Shiozaki of DCVC Bio and Andrew Kozlov of 4BIO Capital will join Ascend’s Board of Directors. Jia-Yi Har of Cathay Health joins as a Board Observer.
The fundraising enabled the acquisition of CMC capabilities and technologies from Freeline Therapeutics and provides operational resources to build the business.
Led by CEO Mike Stella, Ascend offers process development, clinical manufacturing, and analytical and regulatory support for biotech companies working in advanced modalities requiring flexible CMC services. Initially focused on high-quality Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors, the company brings together a team of approximately 120 cross-functional experts who have already developed processes for a number of AAV products currently under clinical development.
Ascend’s operations are headquartered in the UK with GMP production in Potters Bar, North London, platform technology research in the San Francisco Bay Area, USA, and a specialist process development and analytics team in Munich, Germany.
FinSMEs
09/05/2023