The money raised from the Series B extension will be used by ROME to advance its LINE-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitor drug candidate through early clinical studies including Phase 1 trials
ROME Therapeutics secured $72m in Series B extension round. (Credit: Credit Commerce from Pixabay)
Biotechnology company ROME Therapeutics has completed an oversubscribed $72m Series B extension financing to advance its lead programme into clinical development for autoimmune disease.
The recent funding, which brings the total Series B amount raised to $149m, expands ROME’s investor syndicate to include Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson Innovation-JJDC, Eurofarma Ventures, Luma Group, Mirae Asset Capital, and family offices Raycap and Sigmas Group.
The round also included participation from previous investors ARCH Ventures, Google Ventures (GV), Section 32, Sanofi Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Mass General Brigham Ventures, Casdin Capital, and Alexandria Venture Investments.
The money raised from the Series B extension will be used by ROME to advance its LINE-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitor drug candidate through early clinical trials.
LINE-1 will be advanced to Phase 1 trials to assess safety and establish the ideal dose, as well as additional studies intended to provide evidence of the drug’s mechanism of action, the US-based biotechnology company said.
LINE-1 RT is said to be a viral-like protein encoded by the LINE-1 element, whose activity stimulates innate immune responses that aid in the emergence of autoimmune disorders.
The firm intends to develop the therapeutic candidate for multiple severe autoimmune diseases, including lupus, in which LINE-1 is aberrantly produced.
ROME president, CEO and co-founder Rosana Kapeller said: “We’re proud to have strong support from such high-quality investors, including strategic investment funds from four pharmaceutical companies whose participation demonstrates significant industry interest in the breakthrough potential of our lead development candidate in autoimmune disease and our platform architected to unlock the dark genome for drug discovery and development.
“The capital from this raise enables us to progress our lead program into clinical trials and advance our pipeline and platform – collectively demonstrating the ability to translate our unique understanding of the dark genome, specifically the viral-like elements within it, into transformative therapies.”
Additionally, ROME intends to keep developing its early pipeline and its data science platform, which helps to locate functionally active repeat elements and evaluate their role in disease.
This platform is being used by the biotechnology firm to advance several new programmes of first-in-class therapeutic prospects for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune illness, and neurodegeneration.