Scholar Rock debuts

Nagesh Mahanthappa, Polaris Venture Partners and a pair of Harvard Medical School professors founded Scholar Rock LLC (Cambridge, Mass.). The newco is discovering and developing biologics "directed to the modulation of specific peptide growth factors" for autoimmune diseases, fibrosis and tissue remodeling, musculoskeletal disorders and cancer. The company's programs are in discovery. Scholar Rock has received undisclosed funding from Polaris, the sole institutional investor. Mahanthappa will be CEO. Previously, he was VP of corporate development and operations at cancer company Avila Therapeutics Inc., which was acquired by Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ:CELG) this year (see BioCentury Extra, Jan. 26). ...