Co-founded by Harvard faculty, Garuda has launched with $72m in series A financing to advance blood stem cell therapies.
Garuda Therapeutics, a US-based developer of therapeutics based on blood stem cells advancing Harvard University research, launched yesterday with $72m in series A funding co-led by Aisling Capital, Northpond Ventures and Orbimed.
Healthcare provider Mass General Brigham took part in the round through strategic investment vehicle Mass General Brigham Ventures, while Cormorant Asset Management, Ridgeback Capital Investments, Monashee Investment Management, Sectoral Asset Management and National Resilience also invested.
Garuda is working on technology intended to generate blood stem cells without requiring external donors, and it is intended to form the basis of treatments for haematologic malignancies, sickle cell disease, β-thalassemia and diseases caused by bone marrow failure.
The technology was developed by Dhvanit Shah while he was principal faculty of Harvard Stem Cell Institute, an associate member of the Broad Institute and principal investigator at Harvard teaching hospital Brigham and Women’s Hospital – one of the members of Mass General Brigham.
Shah co-founded Garuda with David Scadden, co-director of Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the Gerald and Darlene Jordan professor of medicine at Harvard, and Sean Morrison, an investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and director of the Children’s Research Institute at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
Shah, who now serves as president and chief executive of Garuda, said: “Our technology has the potential to transform blood stem cell transplants, revolutionising the landscape of medicine.
“Eliminating the need for donor or patient cells while gaining the ability to exploit stem cell engineering would democratise blood stem cell transplants, ensuring this vital, and often curative, therapy can be made accessible to any bone marrow transplant eligible patient in need.
“Today, we are thrilled to launch Garuda with the support of our incredible investors and management team, comprised of industry experts in blood stem cell and bone marrow transplants.”
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.
