Tribune Therapeutics – a biotechnology company dedicated to treating the root causes of fibrotic diseases – announced it has raised €37 million in seed and Series A funding to advance a portfolio of therapies targeting central drivers of scar tissue formation. And the funding includes a €23 million Series A led by new investor LifeArc Ventures and joined by seed investors Novo Holdings, HealthCap, Innovestor’s Life Science Fund, and Inven2, as well as new Series A investors Industrifonden and Investinor.
The current standard-of-care for the millions of patients with fibrotic diseases of the lung, kidney, liver, and other tissue types is limited to managing symptoms or moderately slowing disease progression by targeting inflammatory mediators or growth factors. And to create broadly applicable disease-modifying therapies, Tribune is instead targeting downstream, tissue-agnostic gatekeepers of scar formation and tissue remodeling, including the CCN family of proteins.
The company’s lead program TRX-44 is currently in development for the treatment of fibrotic conditions including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a chronic fibrotic lung disease that leads to respiratory failure and death within three to five years of diagnosis. And the Series A financing will prepare TRX-44 to begin clinical trials and will advance additional programs targeting the CCN protein family.
TRX-44 prevents scar formation by mimicking the structure and function of CCN5. CCN5 is an endogenous protein that naturally blocks the pro-fibrotic effects of other CCN family members, including CTGF/CCN2 and WISP1/CCN4, on multiple cell types contributing to the fibrotic pathology. This approach evolved from blocking individual CCN proteins and their upstream activator, TGF-beta, and has the potential to combat a broader set of fibrotic diseases while avoiding the toxic side effects that have hampered the development of less targeted approaches.
LifeArc’s Baker and Industrifonden’s Jonathan Ilicki, MD, MBA, will join Tribune’s board in connection with the funding.
KEY QUOTES:
“Tribune was founded on groundbreaking discoveries about the underlying drivers of fibrosis. From the beginning, it was clear that these discoveries had far-reaching therapeutic implications. Advancing our programs towards the clinic with the backing of such a strong and prestigious investor group further increases our confidence in our innovative approach to treat fibrotic diseases, many of which are fatal.”
- Georg Vo Beiske, PharmD, Tribune Chief Executive Officer and HealthCap Venture Partner
“Fibrotic diseases like IPF are devastating and often terminal. Tribune’s approach exploits the biology of CCNs to shut down a key pro-fibrotic pathway, and is the kind of novel strategy that can meaningfully impact the treatment of multiple fibrotic indications.”
- João Ribas, PhD, Principal of Novo Holdings
“After reviewing the preclinical data for TRX-44 and meeting the impressive team behind it, we recognized the potential transformational impact of this strategy. Tribune has the opportunity to pioneer a new approach to the treatment of fibrotic diseases that could make debilitating conditions like IPF manageable, improving quality of life and giving new hope to thousands of patients diagnosed each year.”
- Chris Baker, PhD, Investment Principal at LifeArc Ventures
