Ampersand Biomedicines, a multi-product platform company developing smarter medicines that act specifically at the site of disease and nowhere else, announced it has secured $65 million in Series B funding from investors including Ampersand’s founder, Flagship Pioneering, Eli Lilly & Company, and several additional new investors. And the company announced the advancement of two lead programs and a second discovery partnership in obesity.
Ampersand’s Series B funding will advance the continued development of its computationally powered Address, Navigate, Determine (AND) Platform to program AND-Body Therapeutics, a new category of smarter biologic medicines. Plus, AND-Body Therapeutics are designed to localize to their intended target and conditionally actuate biology to treat disease, enabling improved target engagement while limiting on-target, off-tissue side effects.
The versatility of the AND Platform allows Ampersand to target a wide range of diseases simultaneously. The funding will also accelerate Ampersand’s initial pipeline of impactful programs, including one in immuno-inflammation and another in immuno-oncology, both of which are planned to enter IND-enabling studies in 2025.
During the past year, Ampersand has also achieved other key milestones, including a partnership with Pioneering Medicines, Flagship’s in-house drug discovery and development unit for a discovery program, focused on treating obesity. In November, Ampersand partnered with Pfizer and Pioneering Medicines to create next-generation programmable medicines targeting tissue-selective metabolic pathways, offering a potent approach to improve metabolic health potentially. Last month, the company also added industry veteran Elizabeth Mily to its Board of Directors.
KEY QUOTES:
“Our fundraise represents a pivotal milestone in Ampersand’s journey and affirms our vision to reimagine what’s possible with programmed biologics. We have made important strides accelerating our pipeline progress, securing two partnerships that extend the AND Platform’s reach into obesity, and expanding our team of highly skilled leaders, scientists, and board members. We look forward to advancing our initial programs in immuno-inflammation and immuno-oncology into IND-enabling studies this year.”
– Jason Gardner, D.Phil., CEO and Director of Ampersand Biomedicines and CEO-Partner at Flagship Pioneering
“At Ampersand, we’ve unlocked a fundamentally novel way to program biologics and in doing so, are ushering in a new era of smarter medicines. We have reached a key inflection point in the development of our AND Platform, and now with the advancement of an initial pipeline of wholly owned and partnered programs, the enormous impact that such a powerful platform enables is materializing. Looking ahead, with molecular addresses for so many more tissue and cell targets, there is still tremendous opportunity to add new programs and partnerships as we seek to unleash the full potential of this new category of biologics.”
– Avak Kahvejian, Ph.D., Board Chair and Co-Founder of Ampersand Biomedicines and General Partner at Flagship Pioneering
