Sept. 23 Quick Takes: $72M series A for stem cell newco Garuda

Garuda Therapeutics Inc. will use its $72 million series A round to develop what the Cambridge, Mass. start-up says will be the first off-the-shelf hematopoietic stem cell platform that will eliminate dependency on donor or patient cells. The company said that the technology, like bone marrow transplant, could address more than 70 diseases; initial indications of interest include hematologic malignancies, sickle cell disease, β thalassemia and bone marrow failure diseases.

President and CEO Dhvanit Shah founded the company last year with scientific founders David Scadden, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and Sean Morrison, director of the UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Children’s Research Institute...