The gastrointestinal disorder drug developer was co-founded by researchers from Stanford University.
Mozart Therapeutics, US-based autoimmune and inflammatory disease drug developer co-founded by Stanford University researchers, publicly launched yesterday with $55m in series A funding led by Arch Venture Partners.
Pharmaceutical producers Bayer, Eli Lilly and Merck & Co all took part, as did Sofinnova Partners and Altitude Life Science Ventures as well as Alexandria Venture Investments, participating on behalf of life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
Merck and Bayer participated in the round through MRL Ventures Fund and Leaps by Bayer respectively. The company said Arch Venture Partners had also led its seed round, without giving details on its size.
Mozart is working on therapies designed to target a particular regulatory immune pathway to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Its initial focus is on autoimmune mediated gastrointestinal disorders.
The company’s scientific co-founders are Mark Davis, K Christopher Garcia and Calvin Kuo, and Mozart will use the cash to advance its lead drug candidate into clinical trials.
MRL Ventures managing partner Peter Dudek, Leaps by Bayer and Julie Gilmore, chief operating officer of Eli subsidiary Lilly Gateway Labs, are both on Mozart’s board of directors, as is Lucio Iannone, vice-president of venture investments for Leaps by Bayer.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.
