Vividion Secures $82 Million to Advance Its Lead Programs into the Clinic
Vividion Therapeutics snagged $82 million in an oversubscribed Series B funding round to bolster its cash holdings that will be used to advance the San Diego-based company’s lead programs into the clinic and broaden the early-stage pipeline of therapeutics against previously intractable drug targets.
The latest financing round comes a little more than a year after the company secured $101 million from Celgene last year to develop unique small molecule therapies for a range of oncology, inflammatory and neurodegenerative indications. Vividion launched in 2017.
Diego Miralles, Vividion’s chief executive officer, said the company now has more than $165 million in cash. The funding, coupled with “a remarkable team” has positioned the company with “substantial runway to maximize the multiple opportunities provided by our unique platform, bringing therapeutics to many patients in need.” Miralles added that Vividion’s approach to drug development has allowed the company to “discover and advance exquisitely selective small molecules against high-value targets that have been extremely challenging to drug historically.”
Vividion’s approach to development is based on the research of Benjamin Cravatt from The Scripps Research Institute. The approach enabled the screening of small molecules against every protein in native biological systems. According to the company, its platform identifies highly selective binders to previously intractable targets, agnostic to protein class and function. This allows the binders to be developed into various medications using a number of different approaches, including direct and allosteric modulation of protein function and targeted protein degradation. Vividion’s primary focus is oncology and immunology.
The financing round was led by Nextech Invest, a Switzerland-based oncology-focused investment firm. As part of the terms of the deal, Jakob Loven, a partner at Nextech Invest, joined the Vividion Board of Directors. In a statement, Loven said there is a renaissance currently happening in the field of synthetic and medicinal chemistry. That renaissance is enabling “numerous possibilities” in understanding what small molecule drug discovery brings to previously challenging target classes.
“Vividion has successfully pioneered its platform to reveal druggable opportunities at an unprecedented scale and resolution to open a large range of therapeutic possibilities. We look forward to working with Vividion's highly experienced team as they continue to build the platform and pipeline toward first-in-class medicines for underserved patients,” Loven said.
The Series B funding round included several new investors -- BVF Partners, Casdin Capital, Mubadala Ventures, Trinitas Capital, Mirae Asset Capital, Altitude Life Science Ventures, and Alexandria Venture Investments. Previous investors who also participated included Celgene, ARCH Venture Partners, Versant Ventures and Cardinal Partners.