Atalanta Therapeutics, a Boston, MA-based biotechnology company pioneering new treatment options for neurodegenerative diseases, raised $110m in Series A funding.
The financing was provided exclusively by F-Prime Capital.
Additionally, Atalanta announced strategic collaborations with Biogen (Nasdaq: BIIB) and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group.
Founded by UMass Medical School and three faculty research scientists including Anastasia Khvorova, Ph.D., a professor in the RNA Therapeutics Institute, Craig Mello, Ph.D., the Blais University Chair in Molecular Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Neil Aronin, M.D., professor of medicine and RNA therapeutics, and led by Alicia Secor, president and chief executive officer, Aimee L. Jackson, Ph.D., chief scientific officer, Greg Miller, chief business officer, and Michele Keough, senior vice president program and alliance management, Atalanta is advancing branched siRNA, a novel oligonucleotide architecture that has shown potent ability to silence gene expression in the central nervous system (CNS) and can be applied across multiple neurodegenerative diseases. The technology was licensed from the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
As part of the strategic collaboration with Biogen, Atalanta will develop RNAi therapeutics for multiple targets, including HTT for the treatment of Huntington’s disease, as well as additional unnamed CNS targets. The company will be eligible to receive development and milestone payments on these programs as well as royalty payments on any resulting products.
The strategic collaboration with Genentech involves the development of RNAi therapeutics for multiple CNS targets for neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Atalanta will be eligible to receive development and milestone payments on these programs as well as royalty payments on any resulting products.
The company’s Board of Directors is comprised of:
- Michael Berman, chairman of Applied Capital Management;
- T. Scott Johnson, M.D., CEO of Comanche Biopharma;
- Stephen Knight, M.D., MBA, president and managing director of F-Prime Capital;
- Alicia Secor, MBA, president and CEO of Atalanta Therapeutics;
- Stacie Weninger, Ph.D., president of FBRI at F-Prime Capital; and
- Jessica Alston, Ph.D., (observer), principal at F-Prime Capital.
FinSMEs
11/01/2020