USA – Be Biopharma, a Cambridge, MA-based developer of Engineered B Cell Medicines (BeCM), closed a $130m financing.
The round, which brought total investment to over $180m, was led by ARCH Venture Partners with participation from Bristol Myers Squibb and other new investors, alongside existing investors including Atlas Venture, RA Capital Management, Alta Partners, Longwood Fund and Takeda Ventures. Steven Gillis, Ph.D., Managing Director at ARCH Venture Partners, joined the Board of Directors. Robert Nelsen, co-founder and Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners and Robert Plenge, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Vice President, and Head of the Immunology, Cardiovascular and Fibrosis Thematic Research Center at Bristol Myers Squibb, joined as observers.The company intends to use the funds to advance its proprietary autologous and allogeneic BeCM platforms across multiple therapeutic areas and progress pipeline candidates toward the clinic. Founded in October 2020 by Longwood Fund and B cell engineering pioneers David Rawlings, M.D., and Richard James, Ph.D. from Seattle Children’s Research Institute and led by Joanne Smith-Farrell, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Be Biopharma is advancing Engineered B Cell Medicines (BeCM) to improve patients’ lives who are living with cancer, rare diseases and other serious conditions. The company has a broad pipeline initially focused on rare disease and cancer. As they advance its platform, Be Biopharma plans to expand into additional therapeutic areas including infectious disease, neurological conditions and autoimmune disease.18/04/2022
