Lycia Therapeutics, a US-based developer of therapies targeting extra-cellular proteins, has closed a $70m series B round featuring pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
The round was led by Redmile Group and filled out by Versant Ventures, Cowen Healthcare Investments, Invus and RTW Investments, while Alexandria Real Estate Equities participated through its strategic investment arm Alexandria Venture Investments.
Founded in 2019 through venture capital firm Versant Ventures’ Inception Therapeutics Discovery Engine, Lycia is developing drugs that will use its lysosomal targeting chimeras (LYTACs) to degrade extra-cellular and membrane-bound proteins to treat certain cancers and autoimmune diseases.
The company came out of stealth in June 2020 with a $50m investment from Versant Ventures andentered into an agreement with Eli Lilly last month to develop and commercialise its LYTAC technology.
Eli Lilly will make an upfront payment of $35m, and Lycia will be eligible for more than $1.6bn in milestone payments if it hits certain development targets.
Aetna Wun Trombley, chief executive of Lycia, said: “We have made significant progress since our series A last year advancing our LYTAC platform, building our team and forging a key strategic partnership with Lilly to further expand the opportunity of our technology to address unmet patient needs.
“We look forward to leveraging our recent $105m capital influx to continue this momentum and advance our discovery pipeline of novel LYTAC degraders toward the clinic. We are thrilled to welcome Redmile and our other new investors and are grateful for Versant’s continued support.”
