Boundless Bio, a San Diego, CA-based company interrogating and targeting extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) in aggressive cancers, closed a $46.4m Series A financing.
The round was co-led by ARCH Venture Partners and City Hill Ventures, with participation from Vertex Ventures, GT Healthcare Capital Partners, Boxer Capital of the Tavistock Group, Alexandria Venture Investments, and other undisclosed investors.
The company intends to use the funds to continue to build technology capable of identifying and characterizing ecDNA-driven tumors; identify and validate novel cancer targets; and develop targeted, proprietary treatments that exploit ecDNA’s vulnerabilities.
Initial programs are directed to high copy number, focal gene amplification solid tumors, where ecDNA are believed to be a primary driver.
Led by Zachary Hornby, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Jonathan Lim, M.D., Chairman, Boundless Bio is leveraging new discoveries about the role of ecDNA in driving cancer growth, resistance, and recurrence to develop ecDNA-targeting medicines.
The company’s joint lab and office headquarters is based in the biotech hotbed of the Torrey Pines region of San Diego, California.
Boundless Bio was founded by a team of pioneering cancer researchers, led by Paul Mischel, M.D., a Distinguished Professor at the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) School of Medicine and member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, who is a forerunner in understanding the role of ecDNA in cancer pathogenesis and evolution.
In addition to Dr. Mischel, the company’s scientific founders include:
– Vineet Bafna, Ph.D., Professor of Computer Science & Engineering, UC San Diego;
– Howard Chang, M.D., Ph.D., Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Genomics and Genetics at Stanford University;
– Ben Cravatt, Ph.D., Professor and Gilula Chair of Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute;
– Prashant Mali, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at UC San Diego; and
– Roel Verhaak, Ph.D., Professor and Associate Director of Computational Biology at The Jackson Laboratory.
In addition to CEO Zachary Hornby, the Boundless Bio leadership team comprises:
– Jason Christiansen, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer;
– Scott Moorefield, Ph.D., Chief Business Officer;
– Tony Pinkerton, Ph.D., Vice President, Chemistry; and
– Meredith Wesley, Vice President, Talent and Culture.
The company’s board members are:
– Jonathan Lim, M.D., Chairman and Co-Founder;
– Kristina Burow, Managing Director, ARCH Venture Partners;
– Ho Cho, Ph.D., Vice President of Biotherapeutics, Celgene;
– Ben Cravatt, Ph.D., Co-Founder;
– Zachary Hornby; CEO and President; and
– Carolyn Ng, Ph.D., Managing Director, Vertex Ventures.
FinSMEs
20/09/2019