Pharmaceutical and chemical producer Bayer and venture capital firm Versant Ventures committed $225m in series A funding to launch a regenerative medicine startup called BlueRock Therapeutics yesterday.
BlueRock will use the funding to develop induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) treatments for several diseases, with an initial focus on cardiovascular diseases and neurodegenerative disorders.
The company has not disclosed where its head office will be based but it will conduct research and development operations in Toronto, Canada, and New York and Boston in the US.
BlueRock has also formed partnerships with New York-based cancer treatment centre Memorial Sloan Kettering and Toronto-based regenerative medicine company CCRM, which will assist with manufacturing.
Bayer invested its share of the series A funding through its innovation subsidiary, Bayer Lifescience Center. The capital is expected to give BlueRock a four-year runway during which time it is expected to advance several product candidates into clinical testing.
Kemal Malik, the Bayer board member responsible for innovation, said: “Accessing cell based therapies is part of Bayer’s strategy. We are launching this enterprise to develop transformative and curative therapies for patients based on the latest stem cell technology.
“We have partnered with Versant Ventures to build a leading player in this field by securing exclusive access to these breakthrough technologies for BlueRock Therapeutics.”
BlueRock’s is iPSC intellectual property (IP) has been licensed from iPS Academia Japan, which manages the IP on behalf of Kyoto University where it was invented.