Antares Therapeutics – a biotechnology company developing first-in-class precision medicines for cancer and other serious diseases – launched with $177 million in Series A financing. The funding was co-led by Omega Funds, Atlas Venture, Lightspeed Venture Partners, BVF Partners, and Cormorant Asset Management, with participation from Vinyanshu Ventures, Abingworth, Invus, Tenmile, Vida Ventures, and Willett Advisors.
Antares is a spin-out of Scorpion Therapeutics, which sold its mutant-selective PI3Kα inhibitor program STX-478 to Eli Lilly and Company in March 2025 for up to $2.5 billion in total consideration.
Scorpion was launched in 2020 and in the subsequent five years raised a total of $420 million in financing, executed partnerships with multiple pharmaceutical companies, and generated six development candidates, three of which are in clinical testing. Antares is headed by Scorpion’s former executive leadership team and is advancing a pipeline of small molecule assets developed at Scorpion, including programs in precision oncology and other therapeutic areas, as well as programs initiated through Scorpion’s 2022 transcription factor collaboration with AstraZeneca.
Antares also announced that Pierre Fabre Laboratories, with whom Scorpion previously partnered to advance two clinical-stage, highly selective next-generation mutant EGFR inhibitors for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, has acquired global rights to both programs. And under the terms of the agreement, Pierre Fabre Laboratories will lead the continued clinical development and global commercialization of both programs, and Antares will be eligible to receive regulatory and commercial milestones and tiered royalties.
Antares is headed by the former Scorpion executive team, including leaders with accomplished track records in the biotechnology industry:
— Adam Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer
— Natasja Brooijmans, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Discovery Predictive Sciences
— Mark Chao, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer
— Andrew Fedder, General Counsel
— Angel Guzman-Perez, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Head of Chemistry
— Erica Jackson, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer
— Darrin Stuart, Ph.D., Chief Development Officer
— Amanda Valentino, Chief People Officer
The company’s Board of Directors are industry veterans with company-building expertise and experience pioneering breakthrough medicines:
— Jeff Albers, J.D., M.B.A., Board Chair at Antares Therapeutics and Venture Partner at Atlas Venture
— Shelley Chu, M.D., Ph.D., Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners
— Keith Flaherty, M.D., Director of Clinical Research at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Professor at Harvard Medical School
— Jean-François Formela, M.D., Partner at Atlas Venture
— Adam Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Antares Therapeutics
— Sir Menelas Pangalos, Ph.D., formerly Executive Vice President of Biopharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca
KEY QUOTES:
“We took our name from Antares, the brightest star in the Scorpius constellation, and known as ‘the heart of the Scorpion.’ We are building from a strong foundation with a team of experts who are experienced in making new medicines, as well as proprietary drug discovery capabilities and a robust preclinical pipeline fueled by discoveries in drugging previously inaccessible targets. We are committed to leveraging our expertise to address well-validated, first-in-class targets across oncology and other serious diseases, and to continuing to execute a fast-to-clinic strategy to bring medicines to patients in need.”
Adam Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Antares and former Chief Executive Officer of Scorpion
“At Omega, we focus on identifying approaches and working with exceptional teams to deliver impactful products to patients. Antares meets each of these criteria. As one of the founding investors in Scorpion, we have had the opportunity to follow the company’s evolution very closely and have been consistently impressed by the breadth of the team’s capabilities, as well as their scientific rigor and rapid execution. I look forward to seeing the company’s vision advance by delivering differentiated, first-in-class products to treat some of the most important unmet medical needs.”
Otello Stampacchia, Ph.D., Founder and Managing Director at Omega Funds
“After years of investment into its proprietary drug discovery capabilities, the team at Antares has made notable progress to unlock the therapeutic potential of targets long seen as important – but undruggable – like the large class of transcription factors. I look forward to partnering with the Antares team as they address some of the most complex challenges in science.”
Sir Menelas Pangalos, Ph.D., independent member of the Antares Board
“Antares will build on what Scorpion started: combining cutting edge computational and experimental chemistry and biology with laser-focused clinical development. This team has demonstrated an ability to break through longstanding limits in medicinal chemistry to advance a pipeline of first-in-class assets, aiming to change the treatment landscape for patients.”
Keith Flaherty, M.D., Director of Clinical Research at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
