Top series A rounds of U.S. biotechs year to date
The year has seen 11 U.S. therapeutics developers raise series As of $75M or more, mostly funding new modality platform plays
The 11 U.S. biotechs that have raised the largest series A rounds so far this year each brought in at least $75 million, driven in part by the development needs of creating platform technologies for new modality therapies, in most cases to treat cancer.
Breaking with the mold, the largest series A round so far this year went to a company developing a single asset for a common, non-cancer indication: asthma. Upstream Bio Inc. debuted on June 2 with a $200 million series A and an anti-TSLPR mAb that co-lead investors OrbiMed Advisors and Maruho Co. Ltd. acquired from Astellas Pharma Inc. (Tokyo:4503) in an auction. The rationale behind lead candidate UPB-101 is that TSLPR sits upstream in the inflammatory cascade that drives multiple forms of the disease, and therefore could have broad utility...