FYR Bio, a biotechnology company dedicated to developing innovative precision medicine tools through the study of extracellular vesicles, has completed an $8 million financing round. This significant investment will enable FYR to accelerate its ongoing efforts in oncology and intensify its focus on neuroscience, including critical areas like neuro-oncology and neurodegeneration. The Sontag Innovation Fund (a venture subsidiary of The Sontag Foundation) and the Yuvaan Tiwari Foundation have joined existing investor Two Bear Capital in supporting FYR’s pioneering work.
Over the past year, FYR has made remarkable strides in its research, particularly in addressing central nervous system (CNS) conditions. The company has expanded its collaborations in this field and advanced its clinical datasets, leading to promising developments. In the realm of brain cancer, FYR recently presented compelling data at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO). Their blood-based, AI-powered technology demonstrated an impressive ability to differentiate adult malignant gliomas from healthy individuals with 100% specificity and 89% sensitivity, achieving an Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.99. This was accomplished by analyzing a panel of proteins found in brain-derived extracellular vesicles. These findings hold substantial potential for addressing various critical unmet needs in neuro-oncology, such as the effective monitoring of disease progression.
Beyond cancer, FYR is also making significant progress in neurodegeneration. The company is actively developing biomarker programs for Parkinson’s disease to improve patient stratification and provide objective measures of drug effectiveness over time. This critical work in Parkinson’s disease was recently highlighted in Inside Precision Medicine, underscoring the innovative nature of FYR’s approach and its potential to transform the understanding and treatment of these complex diseases. The newly secured funding will be instrumental in advancing these crucial programs, bringing hope for improved diagnostics and treatments to patients worldwide.
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“This financing enables us to scale what our partners value most: high-quality, blood-based insights that guide decisions in hard-to-access diseases. We are expanding our neuro-oncology and neurodegeneration programs while actively growing our general oncology portfolio with existing and new partners.”
Chris Booth, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of FYR
“The Sontag Innovation Fund invests in technologies with the potential to materially improve outcomes for people with brain cancer. FYR’s ability to enrich tumor and brain-derived EV signals from a simple blood draw and translate those signals into clinically actionable biomarkers is strongly aligned with our mission. We’re especially excited to support their continued growth in neuroscience and neuro-oncology.”
Scott Davis, PhD, Managing Director, The Sontag Innovation Fund
“FYR has combined chemistry innovations with advanced AI analytics to turn complex biology into reliable, usable data. Their platform is scaling across solid tumors and also unlocks CNS applications where clean, noninvasive signals are notoriously hard to capture. We’re excited to support the natural expansion of their platform into neuro-oncology and neurodegeneration alongside continued growth in oncology.”
Avery Sonnenberg, PhD, Principal at Two Bear Capital
“For children with aggressive brain tumors, progress has been far too slow. Our foundation is committed to backing bold science that can change that reality. FYR’s EVO platform provides a non-invasive way to gain early insights and better guide treatment decisions—ultimately leading to improved outcomes for patients. We are proud to support this work and help advance its potential in neuro-oncology.”
Parvati Tiwari, President and Co-Founder of the Yuvaan Tiwari Foundation
