• Epic Sciences

  Participated · Series D · Apr 2017

  Epic Sciences develops and markets liquid‑biopsy diagnostics to guide therapy selection and monitor disease progression in prostate and breast cancers. Its flagship offering, DefineMBC, is a three‑component blood‑based biopsy that reports circulating tumor cell detection, HER2 and ER protein expression and single‑cell sequencing for ERBB2 amplification, alongside a 56‑gene plasma cell‑free DNA panel including ERBB2 and PIK3CA and tumor mutational burden. The company leverages proprietary cell analysis and cell‑free analysis in a CAP/CLIA‑accredited laboratory and provides Comprehensive Cancer Profiling to pharmaceutical partners and major cancer centers. Epic has delivered DefineMBC results to 700 patients and their oncologists through a Clinical Experience Program. In the past twelve months Epic raised $67 million across a $43M Series F and a $24M Series G to fund commercialization of DefineMBC. Proceeds are being used to build commercial infrastructure (sales, product marketing, customer service, medical affairs, payer markets and billing) and to generate additional concordance and outcomes data. Epic Sciences is a diagnostics company based in San Diego that develops and markets liquid biopsy tests and multi-omic cancer profiling to guide therapy selection and monitor disease progression in prostate and breast cancers. Its liquid biopsy platform combines proprietary cell analysis capabilities with cell-free DNA analysis to provide more complete, efficient cancer profiling. The company operates a full-service CAP/CLIA-accredited laboratory and provides research support services, partnering with pharmaceutical companies and major cancer centers worldwide. Epic's DefineMBC™ blood-based test for comprehensively characterizing metastatic breast cancer has been reporting patient results since April 2022 and uses multi-analyte methods to detect circulating tumor cells, assess protein expression (HER2, ER), determine intra-cell CNVs, and identify SNVs, indels, fusions, CNVs, MSI and TMB from plasma. The company plans to use the new capital to continue advancing its multi-omic platform and to expand operations in single-cell sequencing and data analytics infrastructure. Lloyd Sanders serves as President and CEO. Epic Sciences develops diagnostics and decision-support analytics that match patients’ individual cancer cells to individualized drug therapies using computer vision and machine learning. The company’s technology is aimed at prolonging life and reducing treatment costs by avoiding ineffective therapies. Epic is advancing oncology decision-support services in its pipeline and plans to accelerate clinical studies to validate and commercialize those offerings. Proceeds from the recent financing are expected to fund those clinical studies and support execution of its long-term growth plan. Epic is based in San Diego and positions its products for value-based, individualized cancer care. Epic Sciences, based in San Diego, develops blood-based liquid biopsy tests designed to predict drug response in cancer patients. Its core platform is the proprietary No Cell Left Behind technology and a portfolio of blood-based tests that characterize rare circulating cells using digital imaging and big data analytics. The company plans to use the funds to accelerate clinical studies for oncology tests in its pipeline and to enhance No Cell Left Behind to include characterization of rare leukocyte cell populations. These enhancements are intended to drive transformative insights into the cellular drivers of response or resistance to key drug classes such as immuno-oncology therapies. Epic recently partnered with Genomic Health to commercialize the OncotypeDx AR-V7 Nucleus Detect test and to leverage Genomic Health’s commercial channel and enterprise systems. Murali Prahalad, Ph.D., serves as president and CEO. Epic Sciences develops technology that enables comprehensive characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from a liquid biopsy to inform therapy selection and detect early signs of drug resistance. The company is led by Murali Prahalad, Ph.D., president and CEO. Epic offers products and offerings aimed at personalizing and advancing the treatment and management of cancer. The company expanded available capital under an existing credit facility, giving it optionality to accelerate expansion of research capabilities and product development efforts. The amended credit facility increases available capacity and extends the financing maturity, improving near‑term liquidity and runway for R&D. Epic is a private diagnostics company based in San Diego, CA.

• Global Blood Therapeutics

  Participated · Series B · Jan 2015

  Global Blood Therapeutics is developing novel, small-molecule therapeutics to treat severe, non-malignant blood disorders. The company’s lead candidate, GBT440, is a potential disease‑modifying therapy for sickle cell disease and has shown promising preclinical results. GBT is initiating a Phase I/II clinical trial for GBT440 and will use the new capital to advance that program. The firm is also advancing pipeline research programs targeting hereditary angioedema and hypoxic cardiopulmonary disorders. Global Blood Therapeutics is led by CEO Ted W. Love and is based in South San Francisco. The company intends the financing to support progression of GBT440 into clinical development and to fund broader research efforts. Global Blood Therapeutics is a product-focused biotech building a pipeline of orally available small-molecule drugs that change the shapes of key blood proteins using its SHAPE Platform. Its lead program targets sickle cell disease (SCD), aiming to address the underlying hemoglobin mutation that causes red blood cell "sickling." Sickle cell disease affects roughly 100,000 patients in the United States and more than 15 million worldwide, underscoring the global need the company intends to address. The SHAPE Platform combines advanced computational biology and protein-ligand modeling with medicinal chemistry and empirical screening focused on allosteric modulation to discover potent, orally available compounds with rapid onset and the potential for high efficacy and reduced toxicity. The company was launched by Third Rock Ventures and assembled a leadership team including CEO Mark A. Goldsmith, CSO Brian Metcalf, and CTO Craig Muir alongside scientific founders from UCSF. At formation it secured a $40.7 million Series A financing to advance discovery and development of its SCD program and broader pipeline for severe genetic blood diseases.

• Naurex

  Participated · Series C · Dec 2014

  Naurex is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in Evanston, Ill., that has built a platform to discover drugs that enhance synaptic plasticity via selective modulation of the NMDA receptor. Its lead molecule, GLYX-13, has demonstrated rapid, robust and sustained antidepressant effects in multiple Phase 2 studies and was well-tolerated in clinical proof-of-concept studies. Naurex is proceeding with a GLYX-13 Phase 3 program after completing an end-of-Phase 2 meeting with the FDA and expects Phase 3 to begin in 2015. The company’s next-generation oral candidate, NRX-1074, is in Phase 2 for major depressive disorder and has shown promising preclinical efficacy and early clinical tolerability. Naurex applies its NMDA-focused platform to generate a pipeline of subtype-selective modulators aimed at a range of CNS indications, including depression, traumatic brain injury and neuropathic pain. The company planned to use financing proceeds to support ongoing clinical development of GLYX-13, NRX-1074 and related development activities across its pipeline. Naurex is a clinical-stage company based in Evanston, Illinois, developing drugs that modulate the NMDA receptor for psychiatry and neurology. Its lead program is GLYX-13, an NMDA receptor modulator in development for the treatment of depression. The company is also advancing its second-generation compound NRX-1074 into Phase I and II clinical trials in depression. Naurex plans to further develop its second- and third-generation programs for other CNS disorders. Leadership includes CEO Derek A. Small and executive chairman Bill Gantz, and the company’s programs are based on work by founder Dr. Joseph R. Moskal and colleagues at Northwestern University. Financially, Naurex completed a $38M Series B financing to fund these development programs. Naurex, based in Evanston, IL, is a clinical-stage company focused on therapeutics for psychiatry and neurology. Its lead compound is GLYX-13, a glycine-site functional partial agonist (GFPA) selective modulator of the NMDA receptor. GLYX-13 showed promising antidepressant activity and excellent safety in preclinical studies, results that were confirmed in a Phase I clinical trial. The company plans a Phase II trial targeting patients not achieving an adequate response to current antidepressants. Naurex is also advancing a second-generation GFPA program with multiple molecules showing preclinical proof of concept. The company is led by CEO Derek A. Small and has made recent board appointments including Wilbur (Bill) Gantz as chairman, with Terry Gould and Kenneth Widder joining the board.

• Blueprint Medicines

  Participated · Series C · Nov 2014

  Blueprint Medicines is a developer of selective kinase inhibitors targeting genomically defined cancers. Its two lead product candidates are BLU-285, a selective inhibitor of KIT Exon 17 mutants, and BLU-554, a selective FGFR4 inhibitor. The company plans to initiate clinical trials in 2015 for both candidates, including two studies for BLU-285—one for systemic mastocytosis and another for genomically defined subsets of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST)—and a study of BLU-554 for hepatocellular carcinoma with aberrant FGFR4 pathway activation. Blueprint also focuses on the continued development of its kinase discovery platform and broader pipeline. Financially, the company completed a $50M Series C financing to advance its lead candidates and support platform and pipeline development. Blueprint Medicines develops highly selective kinase inhibitors targeted at genomically defined subsets of cancer patients using a platform that combines genomics with a novel kinase inhibitor library. Its lead programs include selective inhibitors of the KIT D816V mutation for systemic mastocytosis and a genomically defined subset of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). The pipeline also includes isoform‑selective FGFR4 inhibitors for hepatocellular carcinoma with FGF19 amplification and other tumors. Blueprint planned to initiate clinical trials for these programs in 2015 and intends to develop candidates as single agents in late‑stage and resistant populations and in combinations in earlier lines. The company emphasizes rapid development toward clinical proof‑of‑concept in well‑defined patient populations. Blueprint was founded in 2011 and is privately held, initially financed by Third Rock Ventures and Fidelity Biosciences. Blueprint Medicines develops personalized, highly‑selective cancer therapies that target driver molecular aberrations and emerging resistance mechanisms. The company leverages a proprietary chemical compound library and its Insights-to-Validation™ Platform to discover and advance novel therapeutic compounds and combination therapies. Founded in 2011 and based in Cambridge, Mass., Blueprint was co-founded by Nicholas Lydon, Brian Druker, Chris Varma, David Armistead and Third Rock Ventures. Its management, board and founding advisors include industry veterans and academic leaders such as Drs. Lydon and Druker, Mark Levin, Alexis Borisy and advisor Scott Lowe. The company announced a $40 million Series A financing led by Third Rock Ventures, and said proceeds will be used to develop new cancer therapies. Blueprint aims to translate growing cancer genomic data into selective, patient‑defined treatments to improve outcomes and make cancer more manageable.

• Bellicum Pharmaceuticals

  Participated · Series C · Aug 2014

  Bellicum develops cell-based therapies that incorporate CaspaCIDe (a self-destruct switch) or DeCIDe (an activation switch) to enable control over therapeutic cells via the small-molecule AP1903. The company is advancing clinical programs in stem cell transplant to reduce or eliminate graft‑versus‑host disease and in oncology, including BPX‑501 for leukemia/lymphoma and programs targeting prostate, blood and solid tumor cancers. Its pipeline also includes CAR T cell and DeCIDe cancer vaccine programs, and a product discovery group working on controlled expansion and activation of CAR T cells, TCRs and TILs. The company states the switches are intended to improve safety and efficacy and to expand adoptive cell therapy into new indications. Financially, Bellicum completed an oversubscribed Series C and has raised a total of $107 million since inception. Bellicum Pharmaceuticals develops cellular immunotherapies for cancer and other serious diseases. Led by CEO Tom Farrell and based in Houston, the company is advancing two lead clinical programs: cellular transplants aimed at reducing or eliminating graft-versus-host disease and a more potent immunotherapy for prostate cancer. The company secured an additional $14.7M in Series B financing, bringing the Series B to $34.4M. Investors in the round included current backers AVG Ventures and Remeditex Ventures. Bellicum intends to use the funds to expand clinical development of its lead cellular immunotherapy product candidates. No operating metrics were disclosed in the article. Bellicum Pharmaceuticals develops clinical applications of chemical induction of dimerization (CID), a drug-based remote control technology that allows in vivo activation or elimination of engineered cells. Its lead programs are CaspaCIDe (a safety switch for T cell therapies) and DeCIDe (a therapeutic cancer vaccine platform), including BPX-101 for metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer, which uses dendritic cells activated by the proprietary drug AP1903. The company planned multiple clinical studies in 2012, including a Phase 2 DeCIDe vaccine study and a Phase 1/2 CaspaCIDe T cell infusion trial in allogeneic HSCT to address graft-versus-host disease. Bellicum intends to use new funding to advance both programs through Phase 2 development. The company is led by CEO Tom Farrell and is based in Houston, TX. Bellicum Pharmaceuticals develops therapeutic vaccines and immunotherapeutic approaches targeting cancer and chronic infectious diseases. Its lead product, BP-GMAX-CD1, is being tested in an ongoing Phase I/IIa trial in patients with advanced, androgen independent prostate cancer. The company plans to use the new funding to complete the Phase I/IIa study and to prepare for Phase IIb trials. The recent financing consisted of Series A and convertible note instruments totaling $4.5M. These funds bring Bellicum’s total capital raised to date to $8.5M. Prior funding contributors cited include $1.45M from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, $6.8M from angel investors, and additional seed capital from founders.

No current team members are available.