TLDR:
GRO Biosciences closed a $60M Series B financing round led by Atlas Venture and Access Biotechnology. They plan to use the funds to advance their lead program for gout treatment, broaden their pipeline, and expand their genomically recoded organism platform.
GRO Biosciences, a biotechnology company, closed an oversubscribed $60.3 million Series B financing round to advance their lead program into clinical trials for refractory gout treatment, broaden their pipeline, and expand their genomically recoded organism platform for therapeutic production incorporating multiple non-standard amino acids (NSAAs).
The financing round, which brings the total capital raised by GRO Biosciences to over $90 million, was co-led by Atlas Venture and Access Biotechnology. Previous investors like Leaps by Bayer, Redmile Group, Digitalis Ventures, and Innovation Endeavors also participated. The proceeds will help to advance GRO Biosciences’ lead program, ProGly-Uricase, into clinical studies for the treatment of severe, refractory gout, a condition that can cause debilitating joint inflammation due to high levels of uric acid.
ProGly-Uricase is a proprietary uricase enzyme that incorporates ProGly NSAAs to prevent the development of anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) in patients with severe gout. The technology behind ProGly NSAAs confers precise control over the immune response to proteins by educating the immune system to recognize the therapy as a “self” protein rather than a foreign one.
The Series B financing also enables GRO Biosciences to explore the potential of ProGly NSAAs in treating and preventing autoimmune diseases without broadly suppressing the immune system. With the support of investors like Atlas Venture and Access Biotechnology, GRO Biosciences aims to bring significant improvements in quality of life to patients across various medical indications through their innovative platform and therapeutic programs.
