US-based radiation oncology treatment developer Curie Therapeutics emerged from stealth yesterday with $75m in series A funding from investors including Access Biotechnology, a vehicle for conglomerate Access Industries.
Access Biotechnology, which had also incubated the startup for the past 18 months, co-led the round with venture capital firm Atlas Venture and investment manager RA Capital Management.
Curie is developing radiopharmaceuticals to treat solid tumours by targeting them with alpha and beta radionuclide emissions. It said it already has a pipeline of drug candidates in place and a supply agreement for radionuclide materials to develop them.
Access Biotechnology partner Dan Becker, Atlas Venture partner Kevin Bitterman and RA Capital Management managing director Josh Resnick are all taking seats on the company’s board of directors alongside founder and chief executive Simon Read.
Read said: “We founded Curie to maximise the potential of targeted radiopharmaceuticals for frank tumour ablation, as well as to harness the growing understanding of how radiobiology of targeted therapies can favourably modulate the tumour microenvironment as part of a rational sequence of care.
“Our team is unique. We have bought together seasoned leaders from pharmaceutical biotech R&D with radiobiology and radiochemistry experts drawn from both industry and academia.”
