$31 million to progress pipeline of genetic modifiers in cancer and rare diseases

pharmafile | March 10, 2022 | News story | Business Services  

Scenic Biotech has announced a Series A financing of roughly $31 million, supporting the creation of new programmes based on its Cell-Seq genetic modifier target discovery platform, including new industry collaborations.

Scenic Biotech is a pioneer in the discovery of genetic modifiers to enable the development of disease modifying therapeutics for rare genetic disorders, and other devastating illnesses.

The investment will additionally accelerate Scenic Biotech’s transition into a development stage company, and Scenic will now advance its lead QPCTL small molecule immune-oncology program into the clinic.

Commenting on behalf of the investors, Stephan Christgau PhD, General Partner Eir Ventures, said: “Scenic Biotech has the potential to become one of Europe’s most exciting biotech companies. It is a pioneer in the ground-breaking and promising new field of genetic modifiers. We are impressed by the power of its Cell-Seq platform and how it’s fueling a portfolio of in-house and partnered programs across multiple therapeutic areas. This financing will enable Scenic to continue to develop its platform and move its lead program into human clinical trials while bringing its rare disease programs to key value infection points.”

The investment round was co-led by seasoned European investors, Eir Ventures, a Nordic Life Science venture fund, Switzerland-based BioMedPartners and Luxemburg-based Vesalius Biocapital. Existing Dutch and UK investors Inkef Capital, BioGeneration Ventures and Oxford Science Enterprises participated, together with Scenic’s founders and management.

Scenic Biotech’s CEO Oscar Izeboud said, “I am delighted to welcome our new investors to the company and to thank our existing investors for their continued support. We have made very significant progress since our seed investment, proving the value of our platform, extending its utility, and expanding our team. We look forward to continuing our growth and delivering on our promise to develop novel treatments to improve patients’ lives.”

Alongside its in-house pipeline, Scenic has a multi-year, multi-indication strategic collaboration with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, to discover, develop and commercialize novel therapeutics that target genetic modifiers.

Ana Ovey

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