AIRNA, a biotech company pioneering RNA editing therapeutics to restore the health of patients with rare and common diseases, announced the successful closing of an oversubscribed $60 million financing round, bringing the total Series A funding to $90 million.
This funding was led by Forbion with participation from Ono Venture Investment, Alexandria Venture Investments, and other new investors, andAIRNA’s existing syndicate, including ARCH Venture Partners and ND Capital. The proceeds from the Series A financing will be used to advance AIRNA’s lead product candidate into clinical trials and further develop AIRNA’s broad pipeline.
AIRNA launched with backing from ARCH Venture Partners for creating a new class of RNA therapeutics based on seminal research published by academic co-founders Thorsten Stafforst and Jin Billy Li. And AIRNA is developing medicines to address a wide array of diseases with high unmet need through its RESTORE+ platform, which optimizes oligonucleotide sequence, chemistry, and delivery for precise, efficient, and safe RNA editing. Plus,AIRNA’s first product candidate is a potential best-in-class treatment for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD), a genetic condition implicated in severe lung and liver disease.
The company also revealed the appointment of Josh Brumm, General Partner at Forbion, to its Board of Directors. Brumm was recently the CEO of Dyne Therapeutics, a Forbion portfolio company developing oligonucleotide-based medicines for patients with muscle diseases.
KEY QUOTES:
“This Series A financing brings together a distinctive syndicate of investors to support AIRNA’s vision of transforming lives by realizing the therapeutic potential of base editing for the masses. We are focused on bringing our first drug candidate to the clinic next year, and advancing our platform to unlock targets that are inaccessible by other modalities.”
- Kris Elverum, President and Chief Executive Officer of AIRNA
“AIRNA has a differentiated approach to delivering life-changing outcomes for patients with AATD and other severe diseases. We are excited to support AIRNA’s exceptional management team and collaborate across continents to build a leading genetic medicines company.”
- Josh Brumm
