US-based precision oncology drug developer Black Diamond Therapeutics completed an $85m series C round yesterday that was backed by Roche Venture Fund, the corporate venturing subsidiary of pharmaceutical firm Roche.
The round was led by Boxer Capital and included Wellington Management, BVF Partners, Deerfield Management, Casdin Capital, Versant Ventures, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Logos Capital, RA Capital Management, Nextech Invest, Invus, Perceptive Advisors, City Hill Ventures and funds managed by Janus Henderson Investors.
Founded in 2016 as Aset Therapeutics, Black Diamond is working on small molecule, tumour-agnostic treatments using its Mutation-Allostery-Pharmacology (Map) platform that will target cancer-causing mutations.
The technology is based on research co-developed by David Epstein, most recently vice-dean of innovation and entrepreneurship, and associate professor in cancer and stem cell biology, at Duke-NUS Medical School.
Epstein co-founded the company with Elizabeth Buck. The two had previously worked together at cancer drug producer OSI Pharmaceuticals, now a subsidiary of pharmaceutical firm Astellas.
Proceeds from the oversubscribed series C round will allow Black Diamond to further develop its drug candidates and to launch a combined phase 1/2 trial of its lead asset, BDTX-189, in the first half of next year.
Samarth Kulkarni, chief executive of gene editing technology company Crispr Therapeutics, has joined the company’s board of directors.
Black Diamond had previously operated in stealth mode. It said it has now raised a total of $194m in funding, and Roche Venture Fund was listed as a returning investor in the series C round, as were Versant, NEA, RA Capital, Nextech, Invus, Perceptive Advisors and City Hill.
