27th Jan 2020 14:33
(Alliance News) - Arix Bioscience PLC said that its investee Quench Bio has emerged from "stealth mode," after completing the Series A financing and bringing total committed funding to USD50 million.
"This follows a period of company creation, with seed investment and close involvement by Arix," the biotech investment company said.
Arix founded and seeded Quench Bio together with the US venture capital firm Atlas Venture Ltd in 2018 along with co-founders Mark Tebbe, chief technology officer, and Mike Nolan, head of biology.
In addition to Arix and Atlas, the healthcare investor RA Capital led the Series A and were joined by AbbVie Ventures.
Quench Bio's lead therapeutic approach centers on inhibiting the protein Gasdermin D, which has recently been discovered as a key target at the core of multiple inflammatory cell death pathways, including pyroptosis and NETosis, the company said.
"This is at the cutting edge of contemporary drug development and a field of significant commercial interest by big pharma," Arix said.
Arix said Quench Bio has built a highly experienced leadership team, led by Chief Executive Officer Samantha Truex, the former chief business officer of Padlock Therapeutics Inc, which was acquired by US pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb in 2016.
Jonathan Tobin, investment director at Arix and board director of Quench Bio, said: "We are excited and privileged to work alongside such a distinguished team of entrepreneurs and co-investors to develop first-in-class medicines that could make a major difference to patients suffering from chronic inflammatory and auto-immune diseases."
Arix Bioscience shares were trading 0.4% lower in London at 95.60 pence each on Monday.
By Loreta Juodagalvyte; [email protected]
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
ARIX.L