Pfizer and Celgene, as well as Osage University Partners and others, have backed a $38m series A round to help launch Arrakis Therapeutics.
US-based biopharmaceutical company Arrakis Therapeutics launched yesterday with a $38m series A round that featured pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Celgene.
Canaan Partners led the round, with further participation from Osage University Partners, an investment fund focused on university spinouts, Advent Life Sciences and angel investor Henri Termeer.
Arrakis is working on discovery platforms for small-molecule drugs aimed at neurological, oncological and rare genetic disorders. The approach exploits the structure of folded RNAs within cells to design therapies that inhibit specific functions of RNA.
The series A capital will help advance the further development of the platforms.
Carolyn Green, executive director of strategic investments, external R&D innovation at Pfizer Worldwide Research & Development, has joined the board of directors, as has Colleen Cuffaro, principal at Canaan Partners.
The board is completed by Raj Parekh, co-founder of Arrakis and general partner at Advent Life Sciences, Alan Walts, co-founder of Arrakis and venture partner at Advent, and Michael Gilman, chief executive and chairman of Arrakis.
Tim Shannon, general partner at Canaan, Elaine Jones, vice-president of Pfizer Ventures, Peter Worland, vice-president, integrative research development at Celgene, and Matthew Cohen, principal at Osage University Partners have taken observer seats.
– This article first appeared on our sister site Global Corporate Venturing.
