May 16 Quick Takes: Leaps by Bayer, RA Capital back Boundless in $100M series C

Extrachromosomal DNA therapeutics company Boundless Bio Inc. is set to reach clinical milestones with a new $100 million series C funding, co-led by the Leaps by Bayer arm of Bayer AG (Xetra:BAYN) and RA Capital. The biotech is conducting a Phase I/II trial of lead candidate BBI-355, a Chk1 inhibitor, in patients with oncogene-directed cancers. Joining the leaders were first-time backers Sectoral Asset Management and Piper Heartland Healthcare Capital, as well as existing investors. Boundless launched in 2019 with financing from Arch Venture Partners and City Hill Ventures.

The Prevail Therapeutics subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY) is adding a new genetic therapy modality to its preclinical pipeline through a gene editing collaboration with Scribe Therapeutics Inc. Scribe will receive $75 million as an upfront payment and equity investment, plus R&D funding, up to over $1.5 billion in milestones and tiered royalties in exchange for exclusive rights to Scribe’s CRISPR X-Editing technologies to develop in vivo therapies against specific targets that cause neurological and neuromuscular diseases. Scribe has an option to co-fund and share U.S. profits on one program from the collaboration. Prevail has gene therapy collaborations with AbbVie Inc. (NASDAQ:ABBV) and Capsida Biotherapeutics Inc...