Ribon Therapeutics, a US-based biotechnology company developing enzyme families activated under cellular stress conditions, emerged from stealth on Friday with $65m in a series B round led by pharmaceutical firm Novartis.
Novartis led the round through its Novartis Venture Fund, investing alongside fellow pharmaceutical companies Celgene, Johnson & Johnson and Takeda, the latter two through their Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC and Takeda Ventures units respectively.
Spinout-focused investment firm Osage University Partners, Column Group, Deerfield Management, US Venture Partners and Euclidean Capital also contributed to the round.
Founded in 2015, Ribon Therapeutics is working on treatments initially focused on cancer, but with the additional potential to treat inflammatory diseases and neurodegenerative diseases.
The technology targets the regulators of cellular stress pathways activated by cancer cells, which use these pathways to counteract cellular stress such as the accumulation of DNA damage.
The company’s lead asset is focused on Parp7 inhibitors for squamous cell lung cancer, which affects the inside of the airways in the lungs and which can spread to other areas, including the brain, spine and other bones, adrenal glands and the liver. The inhibitors remove cancer cells’ ability to evade immune detection and repair themselves.
Regulatory filings show Ribon had secured $23.5m in 2016 and $20m in October 2017, which would put its overall funding at more than $108m.
Novartis Venture Fund, JJDC and Celgene were all identified as returning investors for the series B round, though further details of their past involvement could not be confirmed. Anja Koenig, head of Novartis Venture Fund, will join Ribon’s board of directors alongside an unnamed member of JJDC’s team.
Koenig said: “We have been following (president and chief executive) Victoria Richon and her team for more than a year and are impressed by Ribon’s tremendous progress and ability to execute.
“Ribon has developed a novel platform with the flexibility and rigour to investigate and exploit new targets providing the opportunity to build a diverse and attractive pipeline of first-in-class therapeutics.”
This is an edited version of a full article on our sister site, Global University Venturing.
