Dec. 2 Quick Takes: venture rounds for Genesis, Biosight; plus: Frontier-AbbVie, Exelixis-Iconic, UCB-Specifica and Click
AI company Genesis raises $52M series A
Stanford University spinout Genesis Therapeutics Inc. raised $52 million in a series A round led by Rock Springs Capital; T. Rowe Price Associates, Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures, Radical Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Jazz Venture Partners, Harpoon Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Mark Leslie, Jeffrey Rothschild, Propagator Ventures and Open Field Capital also participated. The AI-driven drug discovery and development company is partnered with the Genentech Inc. unit of Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY) to identify drug candidates for multiple diseases under an October deal.
AbbVie, Frontier enter protein degradation deal focused on cancer, immunology
AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) and Frontier Medicines Corp. partnered to identify small molecules against novel E3 ligases and undisclosed cancer and immunology targets using Frontier’s chemoproteomics platform. Frontier will receive $55 million up front and undisclosed R&D funding to cover “defined stages” of preclinical development, after which AbbVie will assume responsibility for global development and commercialization. Frontier retains an option to share development rights for undisclosed cancer programs through Phase II and is eligible for more than $1 billion in milestones, plus royalties. ...