Actio Biosciences, a San Diego, CA-based biotechnology company, closed a $55m Series A financing.
The round was led by Canaan and DROIA Ventures, with participation from existing investors Deerfield Management and EcoR1, as well as new investor Euclidean Capital.
Actio is leveraging a novel platform approach to genetics and precision medicine to develop new therapeutics that target shared underlying biology in both rare and common diseases. The company’s platform comprises a vast proprietary target database, called the Rare Disease Target Atlas, and expertise in bioinformatics, biology and chemistry.
Actio will initially focus on identifying targets and advancing programs for rare disease indications and plans to leverage insights throughout the development process to inform potential relevance of those targets in more common diseases. Its pipeline is led by a program targeting TRPV4, an ion channel target identified as high-value through the company’s platform. Actio plans to initially evaluate it for the treatment of rare diseases caused by TRPV4 mutations, including Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2C (CMT2C), characterized by severe muscle weakness, vocal cord paresis and respiratory complications, as well as serious bone diseases, such as metatropic dysplasia.
The company has established a partnership with the Rare Disease Translational Center at The Jackson Laboratory (JAX), a nonprofit biomedical research institution, dedicated to understanding the molecular underpinning of rare diseases and their treatments. Actio is partnering with JAX to evaluate targets and phenotypes of interest in high-quality genetically engineered mouse models at scale, enabling a high level of confidence in the outcomes observed. The company is also collaborating with prominent academic centers to provide further validation of the role of certain genes in disease, as well as insights into disease pathology to better inform the design of preclinical studies, rare patient natural history studies and future clinical trials.
The full Actio leadership team and board include the following:
Leadership Team
- David Goldstein, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO
- David Breckenridge, Ph.D., chief scientific officer
- John Link, Ph.D., senior advisor, drug discovery
- Sunil Sahdeo, Ph.D., vice president, biology
- Nick Stock, Ph.D., senior vice president, chemistry
- Ali Torkamani, Ph.D., vice president, bioinformatics and genetics
- Anne Sandan, CPA, vice president, human resources and finance operations
Board of Directors
- George Golumbeski, Ph.D., board chairman and partner, DROIA Ventures
- Jason Fuller, Ph.D., board member and partner, Deerfield Management
- David Goldstein, Ph.D., board member and CEO, Actio
- Nina Kjellson, board member and general partner, Canaan
- John McHutchison, AO, M.D., board member and co-founder, Actio
- Alex Tkachenko, Ph.D., board member and executive in residence, EcoR1
FinSMEs
14/09/2023