July 20 Quick Takes: Multiomics-driven cancer newco Auron raises $48M series A
Plus Section 32 leads BigHat’s $75M round; PTC gains first global approval of brain-infused gene therapy; and more
Auron Therapeutics Inc. raised a $48 million series A round to develop cancer therapies with targets in differentiation pathways that were discovered via machine learning analyses of multi-omics datasets. The financing was led by DCVC Bio, with participation from new investors Mubadala Capital and Apollo Health Ventures, and existing investors Arkin Bio Ventures, Polaris Partners, Qiming Venture Partners USA, Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY), the BrightEdge investment arm of the American Cancer Society, Franklin Berger and Casdin Capital.
The Newton, Mass.-based company also hired David Millan as CSO, Thomas Graeber as chief data officer, and Andrea Armstrong as chief people officer while appointing Briggs Morrison as chairman. Millan was VP, head of chemistry at Foghorn Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:FHTX); Graeber is a professor at University of California Los Angeles; Armstrong was interim chief people officer at Chroma Medicine Inc.; and Morrison is CEO at Syndax Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:SNDX). It raised a $13 million seed round last year. ...