May 5 Quick Takes: Perlmutter joining Eikon as VCs pour in $148M; plus venture money for Foresite’s Esker, BridGene, Isolere and more
Months after he retired from Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK), newly hired CEO Roger Perlmutter will lead Eikon Therapeutics Inc. as it seeks to "industrialize" fluorescent microscopy technology that allows it to visualize the movement of proteins within a living cell. A syndicate led by the Column Group has invested $148 million in Eikon’s series A round, joining Foresite Capital, Innovation Endeavors and Lux Capital.
Foresite invested $70 million series A round to launch Esker Therapeutics, a company the firm incubated to develop precision therapies for autoimmune diseases, making it the latest example of precision medicine expanding beyond oncology. The company, led by co-founder, President and CEO June Lee, has selective TYK2 inhibitor ESK-001 in Phase I to treat psoriasis and a pipeline of assets in discovery against undisclosed causal drivers of autoimmune diseases. Foresite is the lone investor in the round...