US-based drug delivery platform developer Entrada Therapeutics raised $59m in series A funding on Tuesday, following commitments from the corporate venturing units of pharmaceutical firms Merck & Co and Roche.
Venture capital firm 5AM Ventures and healthcare investment firm MPM Capital co-led the round, which also featured Agent Capital. The corporates participated through Roche Fund and MRL Ventures Fund, a subsidiary of Merck’s Merck Research Laboratories division.
Founded in 2016, Entrada has developed intracellular technology intended to help medicines access both small and large cells in order to treat genetic diseases.
The company’s lead program targets mutations that cause cells to reduce the amount of energy they produce. The series A cash will fund the progress of the program into human clinical trials and expand Entrada’s drug pipeline.
Entrada was incubated in 5AM Ventures’ 4:59 Initiative and had previously raised an undisclosed amount of seed capital from 5AM, Roche Venture Fund and MRL Ventures Fund.
Dipal Doshi, Entrada’s president and CEO, said: “With this financing, Entrada is well-positioned to advance multiple programs through the application of our proprietary intracellular biologics platform. Entrada has an opportunity to create the next generation of therapeutics for previously undruggable intracellular targets.”
Anja Harmeier, an investment director at Roche Venture Fund, is on the company’s board of directors, as is MRL Ventures partner Christine Brennan.