- Wilmington, Delaware-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Prelude Therapeutics has raised $60 million in funding
Prelude Therapeutics, a Wilmington, Delaware-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery and development of small molecule drugs that targets the key drivers of cancer cell growth, survival, and resistance, announced it secured $60 million in Series B funding. Including this round, Prelude Therapeutics has raised $95 million total. This round of funding was co-led by two existing investors including OrbiMed Advisors LLC.
Ever since Prelude Therapeutics launched in 2016, the company has made tremendous progress in its first discovery program targeting Protein Arginine Methyltransferase 5 (known as PRMT5) — which is a member of the arginine methyltransferase family. PRMT5 is known for playing an important role in several cellular processes that drives cancer cell proliferation, cell cycle progression, and resistance to apoptosis in hematological malignancies and solid tumors.
With this round of funding, Prelude Therapeutics is going to advance Prelude’s proprietary PRMT5 inhibitor PRT543 through proof of concept clinical studies. PRT543 is in a parallel dose escalation Phase 1 clinical trial for solid tumors, myeloid malignancies, and lymphomas.
And the funding will also be used for advancing additional differentiated compounds from the PRMT5 program and strengthening Prelude’s discovery preclinical and clinical development infrastructure for supporting a rapidly advancing pipeline beyond PRMT5. And Prelude has established several drug discovery programs and compounds from the early stage programs that are expected to enter preclinical development in the second half of 2019 with a potential IND-filing in 2020.
“We are very appreciative of the continued support of our current investors, who have been integral to the founding of Prelude and the creation of our growing pipeline,” said Prelude Therapeutics CEO and founder Kris Vaddi, Ph.D. “We believe PRMT5 inhibitors represent a promising new class of drugs to treat cancers, including ones that have developed resistance to existing targeted therapies. We are also pleased to have assembled such a talented, experienced and proven leadership team to address some of the most pressing gaps in cancer treatment.”
Prior to launching Prelude in July 2016, Dr. Vaddi was a member of the founding team of Incyte Corporation in 2002 and most recently served as a group vice president. And he is also known for initiating and championing JAK research programs at Incyte that led to the discovery, development, and approval of Jakafi (ruxolotinib) for Myelofibrosis and Polycythemia Vera and Olumiant (Baricitinib) for rheumatoid arthritis. Dr. Vaddi had received his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from APAU in India and his Ph.D. from the University of Florida.
In May, Prelude hired Dr. David Mauro as the company’s chief medical officer. Dr. Mauro has experience in strong drug development experience in positions of increasing responsibility at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, and Checkmate Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Mauro received an MD and Ph.D. from Temple University School of Medicine.
And Brian Piper has joined Prelude as chief financial officer in July. Piper was previously chief financial officer at Aevi Genomic Medicine where he oversaw the management of corporate financing and reporting, corporate fundraising efforts, and investor relations. Before that, he had executive roles in finance, program and alliance management, and investor relations at Shire Pharmaceuticals.
