Life Sciences Financings and Commentary #35
Tags: Venture Capital, Biotechnology, Investing, Healthcare, Medicine

Get these analyses to your inbox — https://axialfc.substack.com/ This is a newsletter for new financing events with some simple analysis. More well thought out work can be found at — https://axial.substack.com/

Axial partners with great founders and inventors. We invest in early-stage life sciences companies often when they are no more than an idea. We are fanatical about helping the rare inventor who is compelled to build their own enduring business. If you or someone you know has a great idea or company in life sciences, Axial would be excited to get to know you and possibly invest in your vision and company . We are excited to be in business with you — email us at info@axialvc.com

Life Sciences Financings and Commentary #35 — November 21, 2020 — November 27, 2020

Financings

Number of deals: 11 & Total capital invested: ~$1.39B

- ATAI Life Sciences raised $93M led by Catalio Capital Management, Apeiron Investment Group, and Thiel Capital to scale their holding company drug development platform for mental health disorders.

- Catamaran Bio raised $42M co-led by Sofinnova Partners and Lightstone Ventures to develop CAR-NK cell therapies in oncology. Catamaran uses its Tailwind platform to engineer, expand, and process NK cells into allogeneic CAR-NK cell therapy products.

- D3 Bio raised $200M from WuXi Apptech, Boyu Capital, Matrix Partners China, Temasek, and Sequoia Capital China to develop new medicines in oncology and immunology focused on China — https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/ex-astrazeneca-executive-launches-d3-bio-200m

- GT Medical Technologies raised $16M led by MVM Partners to develop its GammaTile technology for targeted treatment of brain tumors.

- Mekonos raised $4.6M led by Novartis to develop its MEMS chip that uses nanoneedles to deliver cargo to cells to improve cell therapy manufacturing.

- Resilience raised ~$800M led by ARCH Venture Partners and 8VC to build the US-version of WuXi. Congrats David, Alex, and Francisco.

- SomaLogic raised $121M (a tranche) led by Casdin Capital to scale its protein measurement platform. The company sells its SOMAMER reagents, a proteomic tool that combines the properties of antibodies and aptamers and its SOMAscan assay, a protein biomarker discovery and development tool for protein measurement solutions.

- Wallaby Medica raised $30M led by Hillhouse Capital to develop and commercialize its medical devices to treat stroke and neurovascular diseases. Its product lines includes the Wallaby Avenir Coil System, a neuro-embolic coil system for treating intracranial aneurysms and other neurovascular abnormalities.

- Well Health raised $45M led by Lead Edge Capital to scale its patient communications product.

- WithMe Health raised $20M led by OMERS Ventures to develop a product to give personalized recommendations for medications/prescriptions.

- Xbiome raised $20M led by Primavera Capital Group to develop its microbiome platform focused on China.

Exits

Number of exits: 3 & Total exit value: Over $30B

- AbCellera Biologics filed for a $200M IPO to scale its antibody discovery platform. Congrats Carl and John — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1703057/000119312520299507/d29983ds1.htm

- JD Health plans to raise ~$3.5B in a public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to scale its consumer health business in China — https://www.wsj.com/articles/jd-health-ipo-will-set-hearts-racing-11606384991

- Oncoimmune was acquired by Merck for $425M in cash for the former’s recombinant fusion protein, CD24Fc, targeting the innate immune system. The biologic is being evaluated in two phase 3 programs: one to determine its ability to protect against immune destruction in severe and critical COVID-19 patients and another in leukemia patients prone to acute graft-vs.-host disease after receiving allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation — https://www.merck.com/news/merck-to-acquire-oncoimmune/

Deals

Number of deals: 3 & Total deal value: ~$6.3B

- Mesoblast announced licensing deal with Novartis for the development and commercialization of Mesoblast’s mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) product remestemcel-L, with an initial focus on acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), including that associated with COVID-19, just six weeks after the FDA issued a complete response letter (CRL) for the therapy as a treatment for steroid-refractory acute graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD). Novartis is paying Mesoblast $50M up front ($25M in cash and a $25M equity investment) with the potential for $505M pre-commercialization milestones for ARDS indications and an additional $750M post-commercialization via sales milestones and tiered double-digit royalties — https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/novartis-licenses-phase-3-covid-19-cell-therapy-from-mesoblast

- Precision Biosciences announced a deal with Eli Lilly worth up to $2.7B to develop new gene editing therapies for genetic disorders with a focus on Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and two other undisclosed targets. Over the course of the four-year pact, Eli Lilly has the right to nominate up to three more targets; for an extension fee, the nomination period can add two more years. Precision receives $100M cash up front with an equity investment of $35M from Elil Lilly. Precision is also eligible to receive milestone payments of up to $420M per product to Precision, as well as tiered royalties on sales of licensed products. Precision’s Arcus gene editing platform relies on I-CreI, a homing endonuclease — https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/lilly-precision-biosciences-team-up-duchenne-gene-therapy-135m-deal

- Sage Therapeutics announced a deal with Deal to jointly develop and commercialize zuranolone (SAGE-217) for major depressive disorder (MDD), postpartum depression (PPD) and other psychiatric disorders and SAGE-324 for essential tremor and other neurological disorders. Sage will receive $1.525B ($875M upfront and a $650M equity investment). Sage will also be eligible to receive up to approximately $1.6B in potential milestone payments — https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201127005340/en/Biogen-and-Sage-Therapeutics-Announce-Global-Collaboration-to-Develop-and-Commercialize-Potential-Breakthrough-Therapies-in-Depression-and-Movement-Disorders

I used to play football a long time ago — I had some decent success mainly because of my teammates with some of them playing in the NFL. Every practice, every game was an existential fight. I’m not that athletic so every year some 6’4 monster would show up trying to take my spot. Similarly, all of these companies are fighting for their right to exist whether they raised $1M or $100M. Building a great business requires passion and focus. A really powerful and useful framework to lead groups of people and win was developed by Bill Walsh — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd_CnRkKOqA