Lassen Therapeutics, a San Diego, CA-based clinical stage biotech company, raised $85M in Series B funding.
The round was led by Frazier Life Sciences with participation from Longitude Capital. The syndicate also included new investors BVF Partners and Catalio Capital Management as well as existing investors, Alta Partners and Longwood Capital. Concurrent with this financing, Brian Liu, M.D. from Longitude Capital and Matthew Hobson, Ph.D. from Catalio Capital Management have joined the Board of Directors.
The company intends to use the funds to:
- Expansion of the Phase 1 study in IPF and TED: The Phase 1 study in healthy volunteers has been completed and demonstrated a favorable safety profile, pharmacokinetics, and target engagement, leading to expansion of the program to patient cohorts in IPF and TED; both cohorts are currently enrolling patients with the first patient dosed in TED.
- Initiation and expansion of the Phase 2 program in TED in the US and ex-US: Lassen has received US IND clearance from the FDA as well as Clinical Trial Authorisation (CTA) from the Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). One site is active with additional sites being activated in the US and ex-US.
- Development of subcutaneous formulation: Process development work to create a subcutaneous presentation of LASN01 has been initiated.
Led by Maria Fardis, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Lassen Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotech company developing antibodies as potential treatments for fibro-inflammatory disorders, such as thyroid eye disease (TED), and cancer. The company’s lead candidate, LASN01, is a monoclonal antibody targeting IL-11 receptor (IL-11R) and is currently being evaluated for the treatment of TED and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Lassen is also developing LASN500, a monoclonal antibody targeting the IL-18 binding protein (IL-18BP) for cancer.
FinSMEs
20/12/2023