Timberlyne Therapeutics – a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies for autoimmune disorders – announced the closing of a $180 million Series A financing to advance CM313, a potentially best-in-class monoclonal antibody targeting CD38, for diseases of high unmet medical needs. The funding was led by investors Abingworth, Bain Capital Life Sciences, and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, with participation from Boyu Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures, Braidwell LP, and 3H Health Investment.
Timberlyne Therapeutics was created by Mountainfield Venture Partners, a biopharma company creation firm, in partnership with Keymed Biosciences. Mountainfield Venture Partners forms companies around in-licensed drug candidates, world-class leadership teams, and syndicated capital raises from top-tier life science institutional investors. And they develop the strategy and establish the operations for companies based on a long track record in biopharmaceutical leadership and operational roles spanning from small start-up biotechnology companies to multi-national pharmaceutical companies.
And Timberlyne has obtained exclusive development and commercialization rights to CM313 worldwide outside of greater China from Keymed Biosciences, a leading drug discovery and development company. Under the terms of the licensing deal, Keymed will receive an undisclosed upfront payment, future cash milestones, royalties on any potential future net sales, and equity ownership in Timberlyne. Keymed retains development and commercialization rights in greater China.
CM313 is an IgG1 monoclonal antibody with enhanced complement-dependent cytotoxicity and has been clinically studied across numerous disease states, including immune thrombocytopenic purpura, systemic lupus erythematosus, and relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. And across these trials, CM313 has demonstrated potentially best-in-class characteristics. The therapeutic potential of CM313 was demonstrated in a clinical study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, where the drug candidate achieved a 95% response rate in patients with treatment-refractory Immune Thrombocytopenia.
