March 14 Quick Takes: Arch refills Nutcracker with $167M series C

Arch Venture Partners returned to lead another venture financing for mRNA and biomanufacturing company Nutcracker Therapeutics Inc., this time a $167 million series C round. The Emeryville, Calif., company, which raised $60 million in an Arch-led series B in September 2020, also added Michael Bigham, executive chairman of Paratek Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:PRTK), to its board.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) is poised to make regulatory submissions next half after TransCon PTH met the primary endpoint in a Phase III trial to treat hypoparathyroidism. The sustained-release prodrug of parathyroid hormone led to a response rate of 78.7% compared with 4.8% for placebo (p<0.0001) among 82 patients; a U.S. submission is slated for 3Q22, with an EU submission to follow in 4Q22...