March 22 Quick Takes: GordonMD, Pfizer Ventures lead Flare’s $123M B round
Plus: FDA approvals for Cidara, Incyte and updates from Karuna, Astellas, NImmune, AbbVie, Roche, Lilly
Flare Therapeutics Inc. raised $123 million in a series B round co-led by GordonMD Global Investments and Pfizer Ventures, showing investor appetite for methods to control gene expression with small molecules. With the funding, Flare plans to advance FX-909, the lead oncology candidate to emerge from the company’s precision transcription factor targeting platform, into the clinic. Craig Gordon of GordonMD and Irena Melnikova of Pfizer Ventures joined Flare’s board.
FDA’s approval of Rezzayo rezafungin from Cidara Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:CDTX) to treat candidemia and invasive candidiasis in adults with limited or no alternative treatment options gives the echinocandin the narrow label the company says it needs for the therapy to be commercially successful. Rezzayo, which according to Cidara is the first new echinocandin to be FDA-approved in more than a decade, will be commercialized in the U.S. by Melinta Therapeutics LLC under a 2022 deal and should be available to patients by this summer. An MAA is under review by EMA. ...