Escape Bio, a spinout of Gladstone Institutes, has secured the return of Osage University Partners, Novartis, Novo and Johnson & Johnson.

Escape Bio, a US-based biotherapeutics spinout of Gladstone Institutes targeting neurodegenerative diseases, raised $73m in crossover financing on Monday from investors including spinout-focused investment firm Osage University Partners (OUP).
Pharmaceutical firms Novo, Johnson & Johnson and Novartis also participated, with the latter two investing through their respective subsidiaries Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC and Novartis Venture Fund.
The round was led by Wellington Management Company and also featured Avidity Partners, Cam Capital, New Leaf Ventures, Rock Springs Capital, Surveyor Capital, Sphera Funds Management, OrbiMed and Sutter Hill Ventures.
Founded in 2015, Escape Bio is working on precision medicines for genetically-defined neurodegenerative diseases.
Its lead asset, ESB1609, is undergoing a phase 1 clinical study as an agonist to sphingosine-1-phosphate 5, a receptor expressed in the central nervous system and natural killer cells that, once activated, would counteract multiple neurodegenerative pathways.
The company also has a pre-clinical program, ESB5070, underway to inhibit a protein mutation called G2019S, implicated in Parkinson’s disease.
Escape Bio is based on research by Yadong Huang, senior investigator at Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and professor of neurology and pathology at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and Robert Mahley, president emeritus and senior investigator at Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease and professor of pathology and medicine at UCSF.
The spinout closed a $63m series A round in 2017 following an $8m extension from Lilly Asia Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly, and Sutter Hill Ventures.
OUP had backed the initial $55m close in 2015, investing together with Novo, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC and Novartis Venture Fund.
Escape Bio also received $31m in a July 2019 round that consisted of common and preferred stock, according to a regulatory filing, although this may be related to the crossover financing.