US-based haematology startup Disc Medicine closed a $50m series A round on Tuesday that was led by pharmaceutical firm Novo.
The round also featured Access Biotechnology, the biotech arm of diversified conglomerate Access Industries, as well as venture capital firm Atlas Venture, Disc Medicine’s founding investor, which had supplied an undisclosed amount of seed capital for the company in 2017.
Disc Medicine is developing treatments for haematologic diseases – those that affect the blood – based on the biology of hepcidin, a peptide hormone created in the liver that regulates iron metabolism in the body, affecting red blood cell production.
The company disclosed the funding alongside an agreement to license rights to certain antagonist monoclonal antibodies from pharmaceutical company AbbVie. It is progressing two product candidates intended to treat anaemia.
Nilesh Kumar, a partner at Novo’s corporate venturing unit, Novo Ventures, has joined the company’s board of directors. He said: “We are pleased to support the Disc Medicine team in developing novel drugs to modulate the hepcidin axis to address multiple haematological diseases.
“The linearity of the science and the progress made by the team on targets backed by human genetics is an exciting development in this space.”
