Cytonus Therapeutics – a U.S.-based biotechnology company discovering and advancing novel medicines enabled by its proprietary Cargocyte Drug Delivery Platform – recently announced the initial closing of its $11.7 million Series A preferred financing.
The company will use the funding round to continue the development of its portfolio pipeline of novel products, delivering well-validated payloads to difficult-to-reach tissues such as metastatic tumors and to the central nervous system (CNS). The Series A raise was led by Partners Investment, with syndicate investors including industry veteran and investor John Ballantyne, PhD, Proxima VC, Gemseki Fund, KreaMedica, WSGR Fund, and Creative Ventures.
Partners Investment is a recognized institutional investor in the life sciences industry, having over $1 billion of assets under management (AUM) across nine funds.
In connection with the funding, the company expanded its Board of Directors with the appointment of Jaeyeol (Jae) An, PhD, the Managing Director of Partners Investment’s Healthcare and Life Sciences Fund. Additionally, Cytonus expanded its Scientific Board of Advisors with the appointment of John C. Bell, PhD, the noted University of Ottawa professor and pioneering researcher in the field of oncolytic viruses. Professor Bell is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, a member of the Center for Cancer Therapeutics, and serves as the Scientific Director of BioCanRx, Canada’s Immunotherapy Network, which is developing biotherapeutics for Cancer Therapy.
KEY QUOTES:
“Jae has been a visionary champion in shaping the current round, and his support will help accelerate the development of Cytonus as we work together to bring the company’s proprietary Cargocyte Drug Delivery Platform to usher in a new era of precision medicine.”
– Cytonus’ Chief Executive Officer and co-founder, Remo Moomiaie-Qajar, MD
“It is a great privilege to be joined by Professor Bell, who is a thought leader and major contributor to the field of modern viral immunotherapeutics.”
– Cytonus’ Chief Scientific Innovator and co-founder, Richard Klemke, PhD
“We are grateful for the enthusiastic support from such a prestigious group of investors, which reflects the progress of our Cargocyte Drug Delivery Platform in advancing a pipeline of first-in-class programs for delivering well-validated therapeutics to difficult-to-reach tissues. The combination of the company’s robust pipeline, novel platform technology, and highly talented team identifies Cytonus as an attractive opportunity with an exciting future.”
– Cytonus’ executive chairman, Christopher Thorne, JD-MBA
