Duke Management Company and Osage University Partners have invested in the genome editing technology spinout from Duke University.
Precision BioSciences, a US-based genomic medicine developer spun out from Duke University, completed a $110m series B round yesterday that included the institution’s endowment arm Duke Management Company.
Spinout-focused investment firm Osage University Partners also contributed to the round, as did pharmaceutical firms Amgen and EMS, and real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
Franklin Templeton Investments, Cowen Healthcare Investments, Pontifax AgTech, OCV Partners, Adage Capital Management, Cormorant Asset Management, Gilead Sciences, Vivo Capital, Ridgeback Capital, Agent Capital, VenBio, F-Prime, RA Capital Management, Longevity Fund and entities affiliated with Leerink Partners also invested.
The corporates participated through their respective investment subsidiaries, Amgen Ventures, Brace Pharma Capital and Alexandria Venture Investments. Precision BioSciences revealed it had secured $88m towards the round earlier this month.
Founded in 2006, Precision has developed a genome editing platform intended to be used in immuno-oncology and genetic disease treatments as well as the food industry.
The series B capital will go to growing the company’s product portfolio and pushing a Car-T cancer product into clinical trials, initiating field trials for its food technology and advancing an in vivo gene therapy program into studies supporting an investigational new drug application.
Osage University Partners previously contributed to a $25.6m series A round in 2015 that was led by Venbio and also included Amgen Ventures, Longevity Fund, F-Prime and Baxter Ventures, part of pharmaceutical firm Baxter International.
Matt Kane, Precision’s chief executive said: “We are thrilled to have such strong support from these leading healthcare investors who share in our vision for the future of human health through innovations in food and medicine.
“This financing provides us with a strong foundation from which we can advance our translational genome editing programs in multiple sectors.”
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.