US-based biotechnology company Morphic Therapeutic closed a $51.5m series A round yesterday co-led by SR One and Pfizer Venture Investments, the respective corporate venturing units of pharmaceutical firms GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer.
AbbVie Ventures, the investment arm of biopharmaceutical firm AbbVie; ShangPharma Investment Group, the corporate venturing vehicle of pharmaceutical holding firm ShangPharma; and chemical simulation software producer Schrödinger also supplied cash.
The corporates were joined by investment firm Omega Funds, VC firm Polaris Partners and company founder Timothy Springer. Schrödinger, Polaris, ShangPharma and Springer previously provided seed capital for Morphic, though further details have not been disclosed.
Founded in 2015, Morphic Therapeutic is working on treatments for fibrosis and autoimmune disease as well as developing immuno-oncology therapies. The company is commercialising the research of Springer, a professor at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital.
An earlier stage of that same research was previously used in the 1980s to develop treatments for six disorders – multiple sclerosis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, plaque psoriasis, acute coronary syndrome and complications during percutaneous coronary intervention.