Tenaya Therapeutics, a US-based developer of treatments for heart disease, completed a $92m series B round yesterday featuring GV, a corporate venturing subsidiary of internet and technology group Alphabet.
The round was led by healthcare investment firm Casdin Capital and included Column Group and a range of undisclosed new and existing shareholders.
Founded in 2016 to leverage Gladstone Institutes and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center research, Tenaya is working on drugs that address the underlying causes of heart disease. Its approach relies on three separate platforms: Cellular Regeneration, Gene Therapy and Precision Medicine.
Cellular Regeneration uses adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors to restore cardiac function, while Gene Therapy relies on AAV vectors to deliver payloads to specific cells in the heart and Precision Medicine identifies and validates targets for treatments.
The series B funding will allow Tenaya to advance its pipeline and further develop the technology, capabilities and intellectual property underlying its three platforms.
Tenaya CEO Faraz Ali said: “We are now well-resourced to build on our capabilities in research and manufacturing, and to accelerate the development of our lead gene therapy and small molecule projects for both orphan and prevalent heart diseases towards the clinic.
“We are pleased to have a group of experienced private and public investors led by Casdin Capital and The Column Group who support the potential for Tenaya’s science to transform the treatment of heart failure, the leading cause of death in the world.”
GV venture partner Anthony Philippakis will join the company’s board as an observer while Eli Casdin, Casdin Capital’s chief investment officer, will take a full seat on its board of directors. Tenaya had previously raised $50m in series A funding from Column Group in 2016.
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.
