Basking Biosciences – a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a novel acute thrombolytic therapy to treat stroke – announced the closing of a $55 million financing. New investor ARCH Venture Partners led the round, with participation from additional new investors Insight Partners, Platanus, Solas BioVentures, and RTW Investments, as well as existing investors Longview Ventures, Rev1 Ventures, and The Ohio State University.
Steven Gillis, Ph.D., Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners, will serve as Chairman of Basking’s Board of Directors.
Basking will utilize the funding to accelerate the clinical development of BB-031, a first-in-class, reversible RNA aptamer targeting von Willebrand Factor (vWF), engineered for rapid onset and short duration of effect. Last year, the company announced positive Phase 1 results demonstrating the safety and tolerability of BB-031 with no serious adverse events reported and dose-dependent inhibition of vWF. And Basking will initiate a Phase 2 proof-of-concept trial, the RAISE trial, in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) this year.
Along with the RAISE trial, Basking will use the funds to advance BB-025, a complementary rapid-acting reversal oligonucleotide capable of quickly neutralizing the pharmacological activity of BB-031, through a Phase 1 clinical program.
Basking’s development program is based on decades of translational research on RNA aptamers as therapeutic agents for cardiovascular diseases in the lab of Dr. Bruce Sullenger, Ph.D., co-founder and scientific advisor of Basking, a Joseph W. And Dorothy W. Beard Distinguished Professor of Experimental Surgery, and the Director of the Duke Center for Translational Research.
KEY QUOTES:
“With the support and funding from our outstanding syndicate of life science investors, alongside the deep expertise of our Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board, we are eager to advance our innovative pipeline and improve patient outcomes.”
– Richard Shea, Chief Executive Officer of Basking.
“Many ischemic stroke patients have no acute therapeutic option available and there is an ongoing need for innovative new approaches to expand treatment success. We look forward to evaluating BB-031’s potential to improve outcomes in the RAISE study.”
– Michael Hill, M.D., Professor for the Departments of Clinical Neurosciences, Community Health Sciences, Medicine and Radiology at the University of Calgary and Foothills Medical Centre
“BB-031 is designed to be safer and more effective than available treatments and to effectively resolve thrombosis beyond the limited therapeutic window of the currently available pharmacological option.”
– Shahid M. Nimjee, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Basking, and Professor of Neurosurgery and Surgical Director of the Comprehensive Stroke Center at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
