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From Business Wire

Lepu Holdings Limited leads the financing syndicate and is joined by existing major investors Novo Holdings A/S and Sofinnova Partners

Rgenix, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class small molecule and antibody cancer therapeutics, announced that it has raised $40 million in a Series C financing in support of further development of the company’s clinical and pre-clinical oncology programs and for general corporate purposes.

The Series C financing was led by Lepu Medical, a publicly traded global healthcare firm, and includes Oceanpine Capital and WuXi AppTec’s Corporate Venture Fund. Existing investors also participated in the financing round, including Novo Holdings A/S, Sofinnova Partners, Alexandria Venture Investments, LLC, and the Partnership Fund for New York City’s Innovate NY Fund and associated entities.

The financing will support Phase 1b/2 clinical trials of the lead program RGX-104 in multiple cancer indications, including in checkpoint inhibitor refractory patients. It will also support early clinical development of RGX-202, a first-in-class cancer metabolism program, as well as discovery stage programs arising from the Rgenix target discovery platform.

“Lepu Medical is very pleased to make this investment in Rgenix. We truly appreciate Rgenix’s unique RNA target discovery approach in identifying various first-in-class cancer targets. We also believe RGX-104 has great potential with checkpoint inhibitors across many important cancer types,” said Dr. Zhongjie Pu, PhD, Chairman and CEO of Lepu Medical. “As Lepu Medical has PD-1, PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors and an oncolytic virus in clinical trials, we also look forward to exploring possible collaborative opportunities with Rgenix as part of our goal to develop further in the oncology market together.”

“The addition of new investors to our already strong investor base is a testament to the power of our approach to develop first-in-class cancer therapeutics using the innovative Rgenix RNA target discovery platform to identify novel cancer targets,” said Masoud Tavazoie, MD, PhD, and Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Rgenix. “We are delighted to have the support of these investors and to know that they share our excitement for the work we are doing to develop these new therapies for patients who suffer from cancers of high unmet need.”

RGX-104 is a first-in-class small-molecule immunotherapy that targets the Liver X Receptor (LXR) and modulates innate immunity by activating the ApoE gene. Data from a Phase 1a dose escalation of RGX-104 in advanced cancer patients demonstrated both immune-stimulatory and anti-tumor activity. Rgenix is currently enrolling patients in the Phase 1b stage of the trial in multiple cancer indications, including in combination with the checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab.

RGX-202 is a small molecule compound that suppresses gastrointestinal cancer progression by inhibiting a novel cancer metabolism pathway involved in supplying energy to cancer cells. Pre-clinical research shows the compound is active as a monotherapy and in combination with chemotherapy considered to be the standard of care. Rgenix expects to launch a Phase 1 trial of RGX-202 in 2018.

Rgenix was advised by Jefferies LLC in this Series C financing.

About Rgenix

Rgenix, Inc., is a privately-held clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel cancer drugs that target key pathways in cancer progression. The company is pursuing several first-in-class drug candidates to treat cancers of high unmet need. Rgenix identifies novel cancer targets using a microRNA based target discovery platform originally developed by Rgenix’s scientific co-founders at The Rockefeller University and now exclusively licensed to Rgenix. The company brings together distinguished scientific founders, a seasoned Board, and a leadership team comprised of experienced drug developers. The company is funded by leading biotechnology investors, including Novo Holdings A/S, Sofinnova Partners, Lepu Holdings Limited, Oceanpine Capital, WuXi PharmaTech Healthcare Fund I, LP, Alexandria Venture Investments,LLC, and the Partnership Fund for New York City. For more information, please visit www.rgenix.com.

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From PR Newswire

TARA Biosystems’ Groundbreaking Biowire™ II Heart-on-a-Chip Platform Earns Acclaim from Frost & Sullivan

The platform is set to revolutionize drug discovery and development and ultimately enable safer and more effective therapies for patients

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Based on its recent analysis of the North American heart-on-a-chip market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes TARA Biosystems with the 2018 North American Technology Innovation Award for its trailblazing Biowire™ II heart-on-a-chip platform. This solution produces mature, engineered, human cardiac tissues and demonstrates promise as a valuable predictive tool for cardiac drug discovery and development. It can potentially advance precision care using patient-derived, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)-generated cardiomyocyte cell lines to identify a patient’s specific treatment needs.

“TARA’s in vitro Biowire™ II heart-on-a-chip model employs iPSCs to generate cardiac tissues. The platform biomimetically exercises the immature tissue until it exhibits the characteristics of adult human cardiac tissue,” said Deepak Jayakumar, Senior research analyst. “These engineered tissues closely mimic functional human heart muscles, which, in turn, allows pharmaceuticals to predict the side effects and therapeutic efficacy of their drugs, without the need for animal or human testing.”

In addition to accelerating the drug discovery and development process, Biowire™ II, due to its high degree of physiological human-relevancy, can decrease associated costs by providing better human translation data than what is possible from existing assays and animal model studies. It can also help eliminate drugs that have unacceptable levels of cardiotoxicity early in the drug discovery process and highlight the elements that aid in the design of superior drugs.

Some of the unique functional metrics of the Biowire™ II platform-produced cardiac tissues are positive force-frequency, inotropic response, improved post-rest potentiation, decreased spontaneous beating, improved structural alignment, and adult-like action potential. The platform is capable of measuring important metrics of human cardiac physiology such as maximum force, rates of contraction, relaxation, calcium handling, electrophysiology, gene expression and structure. These established functional metrics empower the Biowire™ II heart-on-a-chip platform to ascertain whether a new drug is improving the normal pumping mechanism of the heart and whether the improvement is due to the heart not filling up or because it was unable to distribute blood.

“Additionally, the Biowire™ II platform can engineer tissues that accurately mimic specific human heart failure phenotypes. These diseased tissue constructs can be employed in the discovery and development of novel medicines to treat heart failure phenotypes as well as in toxicology studies,” noted Deepak. “Unlike most organ-on-a-chip companies that develop multi-organ chips or several single organ-on-a-chip platforms, TARA Biosystems singularly focuses on the development of heart-on-a-chip technology. This enables the company to deliver a platform capable of comprehensively measuring functional metrics that can reveal deep insights for use in cardiac safety and mechanistic studies.”

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed a product with innovative features and functionality that is gaining rapid acceptance in the market. The award recognizes the quality of the solution and the customer value enhancements it enables.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

About TARA Biosystems

TARA Biosystems is a human heart-on-a-chip company headquartered in New York which has developed a proprietary platform of cardiac tissue models.  Through these physiologically human-relevant predictive models, the company offers a variety of services and solutions that can decisively evaluate the safety and efficacy of novel biopharmaceutical drugs and strengthen the drug discovery, and development pipeline.

About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today’s market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Contact us: Start the discussion.

From Venture Beat

Accelerator Life Science Partners Launches Magnolia Neurosciences Corporation with $31 Million Series A to Develop Targeted Neuroprotective Therapies

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–August 13, 2018

Accelerator Life Science Partners (Accelerator), a leading life science investment and management firm, today announced that it has launched Magnolia Neurosciences Corporation, a company developing a new class of neuroprotective medicines. Co-founded by Accelerator and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson), the company will further develop discoveries made by scientists in MD Anderson’s Therapeutics Discovery division and the Neurodegeneration Consortium (NDC).

Investors participating in the $31 Million Series A financing include AbbVie Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, ARCH Venture Partners, Eli Lilly and Company, Innovate NY Fund, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., the Partnership Fund for New York City, Pfizer Ventures, Watson Fund, L.P., WuXi AppTec’s Corporate Venture Fund and 180 Degree Capital Corp.

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New York, NY – August 6, 2018 – Crain’s Custom, a division of Crain’s New York Business, today announced the inaugural Notable Women in Health Care, which honors executives, researchers and clinicians who have had a profound impact through work in their careers and in their communities. This list of Notable Women in Health Care is part of a year-long series from Crain’s New York Business to celebrate women in the workplace, across industries.

The Notable Women in Health Care honoree program garnered nominations across a spectrum of health care organizations, from hospitals and nonprofits to medical colleges and health care groups in the New York City metropolitan area. In order to qualify, nominees were required to be in the health care industry in the New York City metropolitan area, in either an administrative or a clinical role.

The finalists were selected by a Crain’s custom team including award-winning health care journalist Barbara Benson, based on a combination of professional achievements, community service, track record of mentoring others, and promotion of diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

The complete list of honorees for Notable Women in Health Care can be found in the August 6 print issue of Crain’s New York Business and online, here.

“Notable Women in Health Care is the fourth honoree program in a year-long series meant to celebrate and laud female executives who have impacted New York City in major ways. It honors those with both professional achievements and exceptional civic and philanthropic activities,” said Patty Oppenheimer, Director of Custom Content for Crain’s Custom.

From the Wall Street Journal

By Kate King

Business accelerator IndieBio plans to open a location in New York City next year after securing $25 million in funding from the state.

The accelerator will work with 20 startup companies a year, providing each with an investment of up to $2 million as well as mentorship and business training. The program is part of a broader push by economic development officials to boost the state’s biotechnology, biomedical and pharmaceutical industries.

“You’re talking about a state that is a research powerhouse,” said Howard Zemsky, president of Empire State Development Corp., the state’s economic-development agency. “We have the raw materials here and the assets to translate into commercial enterprise, and that’s the overarching objective.”

Founded in San Francisco three years ago, IndieBio has worked with 90 companies that have gone on to raise more than $165 million in venture capital funding, according to founder Arvind Gupta. The accelerator is looking for a 12,000 to 20,000-square-foot location, preferably in Manhattan near a major transportation hub, that will offer laboratory facilities as well as office space “so science and business can work hand-in hand,” he said.

“There is a huge amount of talent that is untapped potential in New York,” Mr. Gupta said. “Really the challenge will be galvanizing that ecosystem and having it believe there is a new way of starting bio-tech companies that can be lower cost, faster to market.”

Accelerators and incubators are a key component to helping New York capitalize on the scientific discoveries made in the state, said Kathryn Wylde, president of Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit business organization. In the past, scientists often have sold their technology to venture capitalists located in Massachusetts or California, she said.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement that by welcoming IndieBio to New York, “we are taking a major step forward to ensure that this state remains a global leader for the rapidly growing life science industry.”

Partnership for New York City is investing $10 million from its own fund into New York-based companies that participate in IndieBio’s accelerator and is raising another $40 million from private investors.

“The idea is to create a broad-based venture capital interest that is local,” Ms. Wylde said. “This is a real culture shift for New York’s institutions as they encourage their scientists to turn their discoveries into commercial enterprise and become entrepreneurs.”

The state’s $25 million investment will be delivered over five years and is part of a $620 million initiative that provides tax credits and other investments with the goal of developing a “life sciences” research cluster. New York City also has pledged $500 million to bolster the industry through tax incentives, investments in incubators and a new research and entrepreneurial-training campus.

From the Wall Street Journal

U.S. medical startups raised a record $3.9 billion in venture capital in the first quarter of 2015 amid rising investor interest in biotechnology, digital health and health-care services.

The total surpassed the previous record high of $3.42 billion invested in the second quarter of 2014, according to data provider Dow Jones VentureSource. A strong market for initial public offerings, growing confidence in the success of drugs in clinical trials and acquisitions by large drug manufacturers that need to replenish their pipelines drove the investment.

“What we are seeing is a very quick steepening of the valuation curve,” said Philippe Chambon, managing director of New Leaf Venture Partners, which invests in health-care startups.

Read more 

From TechCrunch

Spring Health raises $6M to help employees get access to personalized mental health treatment

In recent months, we’ve seen more and more funding flowing into tools for mental wellness — whether that’s AI-driven tools to help patients find help to meditation apps — and it seems like that trend is starting to pick up even more steam as smaller companies are grabbing the attention of investors.

There’s another one picking up funding today in Spring Health, a platform for smaller companies to help their employees get more access to mental health treatment. The startup looks to give employers a simple, effective way to start offering that treatment for their employees in the form of personalized mental wellness plans. The employees get access to confidential plans in addition to access to a network and ways to get in touch with a therapist or psychiatrist as quickly as possible. The company said it has raised an additional $6 million in funding led by Rethink Impact, with Work-Bench, BBG Ventures, and The Partnership Fund for New York City joining the round. RRE Ventures and the William K. Warren Foundation also participated.

“…I realized that mental health care is largely a guessing game: you use trial-and-error to find a compatible therapist, and you use trial-and-error to find the right treatment regimen, whether that’s a specific cocktail of medications or a specific type of psychotherapy,” CEO and co-founder April Koh said. “Everything around us is personalized these days – like shopping on Amazon, search results on Google, and restaurant recommendations on Yelp – but you can’t get personalized recommendations for your mental health care. I wanted to build a platform that connects you with the right care for you from the very beginning. So I partnered with leading expert on personalized psychiatry, Dr. Adam Chekroud our Chief Scientist, and my friend Abhishek Chandra, our CTO, to start Spring Health.”

Read More on TechCrunch