Tectonic Therapeutic is the latest venture undertaken by Harvard’s serial entrepreneur Timothy Springer, who co-led the series A round.
Tectonic Therapeutic, a US-based biotechnology spinout of Harvard University, has collected $80m in its series A round co-led by Prof Timothy Springer, one of its co-founders and faculty member at Harvard Medical School.
Vida Ventures and Polaris Partners co-led the round, which also attracted EcoR1 Capital.
Founded in 2019, Tectonic is working on G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR)-targeted therapies. The proteins are a popular drug target due to their involvement in numerous bodily functions but their potential remains mostly untapped due to a range of challenges Tectonic is aiming to tackle.
The spinout was co-founded by serial entrepreneur Springer – whose previous ventures have included Moderna and Editas Medicine – and his colleague Andrew Kruse, professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology.
Springer said: “GPCRs are central to human biology and are the target of approximately 30% of all currently approved drugs.
“However, many GPCRs still remain unexplored or are considered ‘undruggable’. The Tectonic platform makes it possible to develop a broad pipeline of biologics against the most challenging receptors in the class.
“Despite the rich pipeline of approved drugs, these target less than 15% of the GPCR class.”
