US-based drug discovery company Nimbus Therapeutics has closed a $210m private financing to advance its next wave of tech-enabled small molecule medicines including NDI-101150 inhibitor.
The funding round was co-led by new investor Google Ventures (GV) and existing investors Atlas Venture and SR One. It also saw participation from a new investor in the form of an undisclosed US-based life sciences-focused fund.
Existing investors including Bain Capital Life Sciences, Gates Frontier, BVF Partners, Lightstone Ventures, RA Capital Management, Pfizer Ventures, and SV Health Investors were also part of the financing round.
Nimbus Therapeutics said that it will continue the clinical development of NDI-101150, which is a haematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1) inhibitor, in patients having solid tumours.
Nimbus Therapeutics CEO Jeb Keiper said: “We’re proud to have built an R&D organisation that is a paradigm of excellence in small molecule drug discovery and development.
“We embark on this next chapter of our history with the backing of a first-rate investor base, a strong pipeline and an unmatched team, which sets us up for lasting success.”
The new funding will also allow the drug discovery company to advance various preclinical initiatives, including those that target Werner syndrome helicase (WRN) and an undisclosed target for autoimmune disease, into and through early clinical development.
Furthermore, Nimbus Therapeutics is engaged in the development of new targeted therapeutics that stimulate the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) to treat a variety of metabolic illnesses. For this, the company is having a partnership with pharma major Eli Lilly and Company.
GV general partner Krishna Yeshwant said: “Nimbus is a leader in integrating cutting-edge computational chemistry, high-tech structural biology tools and other industry-shaping technologies and approaches.
“We’re thrilled to support Jeb Keiper and the team as they bring difficult-to-drug, high-impact targets within reach across a wide range of therapeutic areas.”
Nimbus Therapeutics’ product pipeline consists of a clinical-stage HPK1 inhibitor to treat cancer along with a diverse portfolio of preclinical programmes for cancer, autoimmune conditions, and metabolic diseases.
In December last year, the company signed a deal worth up to $6bn to sell NDI-034858, an oral, selective allosteric tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor, to Japan-based Takeda.
