Senda Biosciences is a Cambridge, MA-based company that leverages nature to program targeted, potent, and tunable medicines. Its proprietary programmable medicines platform includes an mRNA engine and an atlas of nature-derived programmable systems at the molecular level across all kingdoms of life. Using that platform, Senda is developing a new class of SendRNA™ medicines intended for infectious, genetic, metabolic, and autoimmune diseases, as well as oncology, and to advance mRNA therapeutics, vaccines, gene-editing, and protein-based therapies. The company says it programs human cells both from within and from outside to create targeted and tunable therapeutic effects. Led by CEO Guillaume Pfefer, Senda plans to use recent funding to drive further development of its platform and advance its first programs into clinical testing. The company positions its technology as accessing the full code provided by nature required to program cells. Senda Biosciences, based in Cambridge, Mass., develops medicines by harnessing molecular interactions that have evolved between humans, plants, and bacteria. Its platform enables deployment of proteins or genetic material throughout the body, tunable modulation of the immune system, and precise intervention at the point of interaction between human and non-human species. The company is led by CEO Guillaume Pfefer, Ph.D., and CSO Scott Plevy, M.D. Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance the development of the company’s platform and its therapeutic programs into clinical trials. Senda raised a $55M Series B extension, bringing total Series B funding to $98M and total funding raised to date to $143M. Flagship Pioneering, Senda’s founder, participated in the round alongside new and existing investors. Senda Biosciences combines microbiome science, computational biology, environmental genomics and AI to develop new therapeutics that act in the gastrointestinal tract with minimal systemic exposure. The company launched with $88 million in funding from Flagship Pioneering and is a 50‑person startup. Senda is the product of a merger that includes Kintai Therapeutics and three other Flagship ventures; Kintai had launched with about 60 employees and was working on ulcerative colitis and metabolic syndrome programs. Leadership includes CEO Guillaume Pfefer, a former GlaxoSmithKline executive, and CSO Scott Plevy, formerly of Synlogic and Janssen. Senda expects to ask the FDA to begin six clinical trials by the end of 2022 targeting multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, chronic kidney disease, obesity and cancer. Company executives say their medicines are designed not to be uptaken, enabling disease modification or prevention with zero systemic exposure, and they aim for greater precision than many current microbiome approaches.

Total raised

$266M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series C

Latest activity

Aug 2022