Triana Biomedicines has tapped Pfizer Ventures and a number of other existing and new investors to secure a $120 million series B the biotech will use to take its lead molecular glue degrader into the clinic.
The latest funding round was co-led by Ascenta Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners as well as returning investors such as Pfizer Ventures, RA Capital Management, Atlas Venture, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Surveyor Capital. New backers YK Bioventures, Regeneron Ventures, Invus and Finchley Healthcare Ventures also joined in.
The financing saw Ascenta Capital’s Lorence Kim, M.D., and Bessemer’s Andrew Hedin take seats on Triana’s board.
The top priority for the series B funds is to take Triana’s lead candidate, an anaplastic lymphoma kinase–positive (ALK) targeted molecular glue degrader dubbed TRI-611, into the clinic as a treatment for ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Triana also plans to select a second candidate to prioritize from a preclinical pipeline of genomically defined molecular glue degraders.
“Successful closing of our series B fundraising represents a major milestone in Triana's mission to innovate therapies for difficult-to-treat cancers,” Triana CEO Patrick Trojer, Ph.D., said in a Dec. 3 release.
“We’ve long viewed molecular glues as one of the most promising frontiers in targeted protein degradation,” Bessemer partner Hedin added.
“We’ve followed Triana closely as their world-class team has built a leading discovery engine to unlock this next-generation modality and deliver new therapies to patients,” Hedin said in this morning's release. “Their rapid execution and lead ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer program designed to overcome resistance seen with current treatments reflect the kind of bold, science-driven innovation that can transform patient outcomes.”
A year ago, Pfizer handed $49 million in upfront cash to Massachusetts-based Triana to work on potential therapies directed at “several disease areas, including oncology.”
Many of Pfizer’s Big Pharma peers have been keen to stick their own molecular glue degrader deals in recent years. They include a pair of pacts that Novartis has signed with Monte Rosa Therapeutics, a biotech with which Roche has secured its own collaboration.
This year has also seen Eli Lilly hand Magnet Biomedicine $40 million in upfront, near-term payments and an equity investment, while Gilead Sceinces committed $85 million in upfront and potential option exercise payments for a chance to license a CDK2-directed molecular glue degrader from Kymera Therapeutics.