Metabomed Completes a $12.5 Million Raise in Order to Advance Its Lead Program Into Clinical Studies
Financing led by Yonjin Capital as well as current investors will allow the company to move its leading program to the clinic and strengthen its internal discovery pipeline
YAVNE, Israel and CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, Dec. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Metabomed, a leading cancer metabolism company completed a financing of $12.5 million bringing the total raised to date to $30 million. The company announced that it has declared a clinical candidate for its first-in-class program targeting the inhibition of the AcetylCoA Short chain Synthase 2 enzyme (ACSS2) in cancers dependent on acetate metabolism.
The financing round was led by Yonjin Venture, with the participation of all its existing investors: M Ventures, Pfizer Ventures, Pontifax Venture Fund, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Arkin Bio Ventures. The proceeds of the round will be used to move Metabomed's clinical candidate for its ACSS2 program towards IND approval by the end of 2020 and to strengthen its internal pipeline to further develop lead compounds for MetaboMed's other programs that modulate targets forming synthetic lethal pairs in cancers characterized by metabolic vulnerabilities such as MTAP deficiency, NRF2 addiction and a defective TCA cycle.
Dr. Simone Botti, CEO and co-founder of Metabomed remarked: "We are proud to add Yonjin Venture to the list of top tier investors in Metabomed and we are glad for the vote of confidence from our current shareholders. We are excited by the progress across all of our programs, but especially by the opportunity to move forward our first-in-class ACSS2 inhibitors closer to the clinic. We hope to be able to show soon that our approach to targeting synthetic lethal metabolic vulnerabilities in cancer will prove itself in the clinic in pathologies like triple negative breast cancer where the current standard of care does not offer effective therapies to many patients."
Prof. David Aviezer, the company's Chairman of the Board, added "With this financing round, Metabomed is well positioned to rapidly advance towards clinical trials with its lead compound and to further strengthen its promising pipeline."
"We are delighted to be part of Metabomed, a leader in the cancer metabolism space. We look forward to working with the company and its board of directors," commented Daguang Wang PhD, Managing Director, Yonjin Venture.
About Metabomed
Metabomed is a drug discovery company in the field of cancer metabolism. Through its proprietary technology, Metabomed identifies metabolic pathways that arise uniquely in cancers and are essential for their growth. These discoveries are used to develop small molecules that specifically target the reprogrammed cancer cells' metabolism to halt their growth. Since these molecules inhibit divergent pathways that are specific to cancer cells, these therapies will not damage healthy surrounding tissues.
About Yonjin Venture
Yonjin Venture LLC, based in Cambridge, MA, is a venture capital arm of Yongjin Group, Shanghai, China. Yonjin Venture LLC specializes in life science investment in North America and Europe. www.yjventure.com
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Metabomed:
Avigayil Simpson
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SOURCE Metabomed
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