RayzeBio Propels Forward with $418 Million to Advance Targeted Radiopharmaceuticals for Cancer
San Diego, CA, September 13, 2022 (Business Wire) -- RayzeBio, Inc., a targeted radiopharmaceutical company developing an innovative pipeline against validated solid tumor targets, today announced a $160 million Series D financing co-led by Viking Global Investors, Sofinnova Investments and Wellington Management. Additional new investors Ally Bridge Group, Sands Capital, Laurion Capital Management, Soleus Capital, and an undisclosed global investor also participated, as did RayzeBio’s current investors. With this financing, RayzeBio has now raised $418 million since beginning operations in August 2020.
“In the last two years, we have transformed from an early start-up to an integrated radiopharmaceutical company leading innovation with this modality to fight cancer. Our lead clinical asset, RYZ101, is poised to be the first Actinium-225 (Ac225) approved drug. In addition, our broad discovery engine has generated several novel drug candidates for clinical evaluation in the near future,” said Ken Song, M.D., President and CEO of RayzeBio. “This financing provides us the ability to further expand our leadership in targeted radiopharmaceuticals and allows us to reach several major value inflection points both clinically and operationally.”
The company’s substantial progress since inception includes:
Advancing lead drug candidate, RYZ101, which delivers Ac225, a highly potent alpha-emitting radioisotope, into clinical trials for multiple solid tumor indications. A Phase 1b clinical trial is currently enrolling patients with neuroendocrine tumors and Phase 3 studies could begin as early as 2023. Full details of RayzeBio’s clinical progress are described in a separate press release issued today.
Investing in and securing key aspects of commercial scale manufacturing and radioisotope supply.
Building a state-of-the-art 28,000 square foot research and development facility in San Diego equipped with the full spectrum of capabilities for radiopharmaceutical drug discovery.
Completing more than 200 in vivo studies, thus gaining key proprietary insights to discover novel drug candidates capable of delivering therapeutic radioisotopes to tumor associated antigens.
Establishing and entering into a licensing agreement with Ablaze Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company that is focused on development and commercialization of radiopharmaceuticals for China.
“RayzeBio has accelerated innovation in the emerging field of targeted radiopharmaceuticals and is breaking ground with Actinium-225 based drugs. We are thrilled to partner with Ken, the management team and board to drive these exciting and potentially game-changing treatments to cancer patients,” said Maha Katabi, Ph.D., Managing Partner at Sofinnova Investments who is joining the RayzeBio Board of Directors in connection with the Series D.
“We continue to follow RayzeBio’s progress and the strength and pace of their execution abilities. We believe that targeted radiopharmaceuticals have significant potential as the next cancer treatment modality and RayzeBio is emerging as an industry leader,” said Irina Margine, Ph.D., Principal at Wellington Management.
In addition to the financing, RayzeBio has appointed Abhi Bhat, Ph.D., as senior vice president, discovery. Abhi has over 20 years of broad cross-functional drug discovery experience spanning bio-conjugates, small molecules, and peptides across multiple therapeutic areas. Most recently, Abhi was the SVP and head of R&D at Design Therapeutics where he delivered the lead clinical asset to treat Friedreich ataxia along with a preclinical pipeline for treating nucleotide repeat disorders.