PreciThera closes $36M Series A co-led by Sanderling Ventures, Arix Bioscience

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By Ted Liu

PreciThera, Inc. has raised $36 million (US $29 million) in Series A financing co-led by Sanderling Ventures, Arix Bioscience plc (LSE: ARIX), with participation of Fonds de solidarité FTQ, CTI Life Sciences and Emerillon Capital.

Dr. Daniel O’Connell, MD, PhD, Arix Bioscience’s Investment Manager, will join PreciThera’s board of directors.

Proceeds of the Series A financing will be used to develop novel molecules and to advance PreciThera’s lead candidate through IND and into clinical studies with the goal to establish clinical proof of concept and identify a path to registration.

Montreal based PreciThera is focusing on orphan bone diseases that cannot be treated via traditional protein replacement therapies. The company utilizes a combination of informatics-based tools to combine information from RNA sequencing and from genomic and clinical databases to validate the major pathway responsible for clinical symptoms in rare genetic disorders

PreciThera was founded in 2016 by Dr. Philippe Crine, former VP of Research and Chief Scientific Officer for Enobia Pharma, and Dr. Susan Schiavi, former Senior Scientific Director of Tissue Protection & Repair for Genzyme.

In May 2017, PreciThera raised undisclosed amount in seed funding from Emerillon Capital and Sanderling Ventures. At the time of the announcement, the company said it had already secured a significant Series A round with several top tier Canadian and foreign investors.

“We are grateful for the support of these premier healthcare investors who believe in our vision of novel therapeutic strategies for rare diseases and the potential of precision medicine for speeding up and de-risking drug development in this rapidly expanding area of the pharmaceutical industry. Our mission is to provide highly innovative and life changing therapies to patients with heterogeneous genetic diseases affecting the skeleton who had up to now no or inadequate therapeutic options,” said Dr. Crine.

“This fundraising validates the potential that investors see in PreciThera’s approach. The decision to support the company’s efforts was based on strong scientific research, combined with the great market potential for the company’s drug candidates,” commented Pierre Beauparlant, CEO of PreciThera.

“We are pleased to be part of this oversubscribed Series A financing combining a strong syndicate of Quebec based and US based investors to launch PreciThera, another important new venture enhancing the vibrant life science innovation ecosystem in Quebec,” said Dr. Peter McWilliams, managing director of Sanderling Ventures.

“PreciThera’s novel understanding and approach to treating orphan bone disorders has great potential to deliver truly disease modifying outcomes for patients with serious unmet medical needs. We are very pleased to join the company alongside an impressive team of founders and co-investors, and are delighted to mark another important deal for Arix,” said Joe Anderson, CEO of Arix Bioscience.

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