A Cambridge-based biopharma, developing a revolutionary class of drugs called Stapled Peptides, received some major backing from big pharma today. Fierce Biotech reported that Aileron Therapeutics landed $40 million in Series D funding from the venture arms of four of the world’s biggest pharma companies, including SR One (the corporate venture fund of GlaxoSmithKline), Novartis Venture Fund, Lilly Ventures, and Roche Venture Fund. This bring its total funding to date to $60 million, $10 million of which was just announced in April.
Aileron claims that its new class of drugs represents the first general solution for modulating intracellular protein-protein interactions, which have been identified as critical control points for most human diseases. Its “new therapeutic modality creates a unique opportunity to exploit potentially thousands of currently ‘undruggable’ targets with applications in all human diseases.”
Aileron CEO Joseph A. Yanchik states, “We have now demonstrated, in multiple pre-clinical studies, the powerful potential that Stapled Peptides represents in the treatment of cancer, and our progress highlighting the applicability of Stapled Peptides to a wide variety of diseases is what catalyzed the excitement and success of this financing round.”
According to the company press release, the new funds will be used to advance its Stapled Peptide program toward clinical trials in 2010 and to further advance the Stapled Peptide platform and programs in oncology, immune/inflammation, metabolic disease, and infectious disease.
For more, read http://www.aileronrx.com/index.php or http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/big-pharma-venture-groups-join-40m-aileron-round/2009-06-08?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal.