SonoThera, a biotechnology company dedicated to treating the root cause of human diseases through genetic therapy, announces the completion of its $60.75M Series A financing round. The financing will support the continued development of SonoThera’s ultrasound-guided, nonviral, gene therapy platform and treatments, designed to provide patients with genetic medicines.
Lead investor ARCH Venture Partners was joined by investors Illumina Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., Vertex Ventures HC, and Medical Excellence Capital. Also participating in this financing round were Eli Lilly & Company, Alexandria Venture Investments, Lifespan Investments, Formic Ventures, Foothill Ventures, and Wilson Sonsini.
“We are thrilled to reach this important milestone, which advances both our platform technology development and the growth of SonoThera,” said Kenneth Greenberg, PhD, co-founder and chief executive officer of SonoThera. “The significant support of our investors further enables our preclinical development and early manufacturing activities while in parallel, we strategically build our team. Each step brings us closer to one day making our nonviral gene therapies a reality for patients and providers.”
SonoThera’s ultrasound-guided platform uses sonoporation, a microbubble-mediated biophysical process to non-invasively deliver genetic payloads of diverse formats and sizes, selectively targeting a wide range of organs within the body. Unlike traditional gene therapies, the technology does not require viral vectors which can be immunogenic and lead to both safety and efficacy challenges.
“We believe in the innovation SonoThera is developing to provide a new generation of genetic medicines and are pleased to contribute to its success,” said Steven Gillis, PhD, of ARCH Venture Partners. “The concept of a targeted, non-invasive, nonviral therapy which could deliver a variety of payloads would significantly change the genetic treatment paradigm for patients, potentially across a variety of disease states.”
[Source(s): SonoThera, Business Wire]
