Totus Medicines, an Emeryville, CA-based small molecule drug discovery and development company using covalent libraries and AI tools, closed a $66M Series B financing.
The round was led by DCVC Bio with participation from North Pond Ventures, Camford Capital, and the Regents of the University of Minnesota.
Proceeds from the Series B financing will be used to advance Totus’ clinical program, expand the pipeline, and evolve the platform.
Totus Medicines is discovering and developing small molecule medicines using a novel DNA-encoded covalent library technology combined with artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML). With the ability to screen billions of drug candidates against thousands of targets simultaneously, the company’s novel platform can find drugs that are superior to molecules discovered through previous technologies, including drug candidates for currently undruggable targets.
The company also announced that Nassim Usman, Ph.D., has been named President & Chief Executive Officer. Neil Dhawan, Ph.D, Totus co-founder, founding CEO, and CSO, will transition into a new role as CSO and Head of R&D, where he will continue to oversee the company’s platform, programs, and data.
Before joining Totus Medicines, Dr. Usman served as President, CEO and Board member at Catalyst Biosciences (NASDAQ:CBIO, now Gyre Therapeutics, NASDAQ:GYRE). Dr. Usman has an extensive background in C-Suite management (CSO, COO, CEO and Principal Financial Officer), Board membership on and venture capital investing (Morgenthaler Ventures) in several private and public companies including Sirna Therapeutics (acquired by Merck) and Principia Biopharma (acquired by Sanofi). Dr. Usman currently serves on the Board of GYRE and the advisory boards of two private biotechnology companies. During his career, he has advanced several drugs into clinical development, executed multiple licensing deals, and raised capital through private and public financings. Dr. Usman received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from McGill University and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at MIT.
FinSMEs
17/12/2023