Life Sciences Financings and Commentary #26

More money, more problems to solve

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Life Sciences Financings and Commentary #26 - September 19, 2020 - September 25, 2020

Financings

Number of deals: 16 & Total capital invested: $1.18B

- Babson Diagnostics raised $13.7M from Siemens Healthineers, Prism Ventures, and Genesis Merchant Capital to develop a device that collects lab-quality blood samples in settings, such as pharmacies and grocery stores, while requiring little training.

- Bright Health raised $500M from T. Rowe Price, Tiger Global, NEA, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Greenspring Associates to scale their health insurance plans for families.

- Immune Regulation raised $40M led by Morningside Ventures to develop new medicines for immunoinflammatory diseases in particular advancing peptide-based therapies for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and allergic diseases.

- IonPath raised $18M from Samsara BioCapital LLC to scale their multiplexed ion beam imaging services for pathology.

- Libra Therapeutics raised $29M from Epidarex Capital, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Santé to focus on fixing the cellular imbalance in neurodegenerative diseases that include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). 

- Monte Rosa Therapeutics  raised $96M led by Aisling Capital to develop molecular glues for cancer.

- NovellusDx raised $57M led by Pontifax to develop medicines for functionally and genomically defined cancer patients.

- NeuroTherapia raised $8.8M led by Brain Trust Accelerator Fund to develop new treatments and drugs for patients with neurologic diseases. Its drug NTRX-07 a selective cannabinoid type 2 (CB2) receptor that can be orally administered, targets receptors that increase in diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS) and chronic pain syndromes.

- Nutcracker Therapeuticsraised $60M led by ARCH Venture Partners to build a businesses centered around their mRNA manufacturing tool with their first focus in oncology - https://www.bioworld.com/articles/498135-nutcracker-raises-60m-to-fund-push-button-mrna-therapeutics-platform

- Osso VR raised $14M led by Kaiser Permanente Ventures to develop virtual reality surgical training products for orthopedic and other medical specialties. The product consists of realistic and haptic-enhanced interactions in an immersive training environment to simulate surgical processes.

- Palladio Biosciences raised $20M led by Samsara BioCapital to develop medicines for orphan diseases of the kidney. Its pipeline includes Lixivaptan, a selective vasopressin V2 receptor antagonist for the treatment of polycystic kidney disease, a life-threatening genetic disease.

- Papa raised $18M led by Comcast Ventures to scale their platform that connects college students to senior citizens to offer their services. It platform is used to find and offer services in the areas of airport transportation, senior transportation, doctor appointments, house needs, grocery shopping, technology, companionship, pet help, and caregiving for seniors.

- Silverback Therapeutics raised $85M led by EcoR1 Capital to develop ADCs in oncology, fibrosis, and infectious disease.

- Virogin Biotech raised $62M with CDH Investment Management Company and China Merchants Capital Investment co-leading the round to develop oncolytic viruses and immunotherapies.

- Willow raised $55M led by NEA to commercialize their wearable breast pumps. Willow also offers milk bags and accessories, such as flange, flextube, and charger.

- Within3 raised $100M led by nsight Venture Management to build digital collaboration products for the health, pharmaceutical, and life sciences markets.

Exits

Number of exits: 4 & Total exit value: Over $2B

- Inflazome was acquired by Roche for €380M to gain in addition to undisclosed milestones linked to the progress of its two clinical-stage candidates, NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors, inzomelid and somalix - https://inflazome.com/press-release-21-sep-2020.html

- Kronos Bio filed for a $100M IPO to develop their pipeline of medicines for leukemia and solid tumors - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1741830/000162828020013757/kronoss-1.htm

- Shattuck Labs filed for a $100M IPO to develop their pipeline of bi-functional proteins in oncology - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1680367/000119312520249204/d69956ds1.htm

- Spruce Biosciences filed for a $86M IPO to develop medicines for endocrine disorders - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1683553/000119312520249221/d902020ds1.htm

Deals

Number of deals: 1 & Total deal value: ~$375M

- Scenic Biotech announced a partnership with Genentech to use its platform to identify genetic modifiers that can suppress or even completely block the effect of a disease-causing mutated gene, as starting points for drug discovery and development. Under the terms of the agreement, Scenic will identify modifiers in undisclosed therapeutic areas, with Genentech having an option to take multiple targets into development. Scenic will receive an up-front payment, target selection fees, development milestones and royalties on any marketed products. The total value could exceed $375M - https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200920005064/en/Scenic-Biotech-Enters-Into-Genetic-Modifier-Collaboration-With-Genentech

I used to play football a long time ago - I had some decent success mainly because of my teammates with some of them playing in the NFL. Every practice, every game was an existential fight. I’m not that athletic so every year some 6’4 monster would show up trying to take my spot. Similarly, all of these companies are fighting for their right to exist whether they raised $1M or $100M. Building a great business requires passion and focus. A really powerful and useful framework to lead groups of people and win was developed by Bill Walsh -