Talaris, previously known as Regenerex and based on research at University of Louisville, will use the funding to advance its cell therapy into later-stage clinical development.
Talaris Therapeutics, a US-based biotechnology spinout of University of Louisville, closed a $100m series A round on Thursday led by Blackstone Life Sciences, with participation from Longitude Capital and Qiming Venture Partners USA.
Founded in 2002 as Regenerex, Talaris Therapeutics is working on one-time cell therapies to eliminate the need for chronic immunosuppression for organ transplant recipients. The company’s lead asset, FCR001, is primarily aimed at living donor kidney transplant recipients.
Talaris will use the series A funding to move FCR001 into a phase 3 clinical trial in its primary indication, where a phase 2 trial showed 70% of living kidney donor transplant recipients were able to safely discontinue immunosuppressive therapy.
The money will also go towards conducting phase 2 trials of FCR001 in additional indications, expanding Talaris’ cell processing capabilities and preparing for a commercial launch.
Scott Requadt has been named chief executive in conjunction with the funding round. He remains a venture partner with Blackstone Life Sciences.
Nicholas Galakatos, head of Blackstone Life Sciences, Sandip Agarwala, managing director of Longitude Capital, and Mark McDade, managing partner at Qiming Venture Partners USA, have also joined the founding board of directors of Talaris.
Suzanne Ildstad, founder and chief scientific officer of Talaris, will also serve on the board of directors. Ildstad developed Talaris’ technology at University of Louisville’s Institute for Cellular Therapeutics, of which she remains director.
Francois Nader, chairman of Talaris, said: “Safely and reproducibly inducing or restoring immune tolerance via a one-time administration of FCR001 could eventually become a new standard of care both in organ transplant and in certain types of severe auto-immune or immune-mediated disorders.
“This financing will enable the company to explore the therapy’s potential to benefit patients across a number of areas of significant unmet medical need.”
