- Casma Therapeutics — a biotechnology company harnessing autophagy and the lysosome to design powerful new medicines — announced it has raised $50 million in Series B funding
Casma Therapeutics — a biotechnology company harnessing autophagy and the lysosome to design powerful new medicines — announced it has raised $50 million in Series B funding. This round of funding was led by The Column Group (TCG). And the round adds new investors Eventide Asset Management, LLC and Schroder Adveq as well as other undisclosed institutional investors. Existing investor Third Rock Ventures also participated in the Series B funding round.
In connection with the funding, Millie Ray, Ph.D. from The Column Group will join Casma’s Board of Directors. And Finny Kuruvilla, M.D., Ph.D., chief investment officer of Eventide Asset Management, LLC will become a board observer.
The proceeds from the funding will enable Casma to advance their TRPML1 agonist program into development for muscular dystrophy as well as continue to develop the company’s Autophagy Degrader Platform (ADP).
TRPML1 regulates the repair of the plasma membrane of muscle cells following damage, thus addressing the core pathology in multiple forms of muscular dystrophy. ADP is a known as being a novel approach for the degradation of multiple disease-causing targets. And the autophagy system is able to degrade disease targets substantially larger and more diverse than those that rely on E3 ligase-based or proteasomal degradation approaches.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are very excited to welcome TCG, Eventide Asset Management, LLC and Schroder Adveq as investors in Casma. We believe our investors’ strong focus on science, combined with their established position in the life sciences ecosystem, will aid us in continuing to forge ahead as pioneers in this novel area of biology. We look forward to the insight and leadership Drs. Ray and Kuruvilla will bring to Casma’s board.”
— Keith Dionne, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Casma Therapeutics
“TCG has been interested in the power of harnessing the autophagy-lysosomal pathway for some time and we are excited to help Casma advance multiple therapies toward the clinic and ultimately, the marketplace. I am looking forward to working with the Casma team on leveraging this powerful technology to create novel therapies for multiple unmet medical needs.”
— Millie Ray, Ph.D. from The Column Group
