USA – Monarch Biosciences, Inc., a Los Angeles, CA-based advanced life sciences company, closed its seed round financing of more than $1m.
The round was led by by Checkmate Capital Group. In conjunction with the funding, Checkmate Capital’s CEO, Tom Paschall, will join the MonarchBio Board of Directors. The company intends to use the funds for the development of its biomaterial-based neurovascular stent and platform for local delivery of cell therapies. Led by CEO Leon Ekchian, Ph.D., MonarchBio is an advanced life sciences company that is developing a pipeline of products based on its proprietary thin-film nitinol (TFN) biomaterial. Its lead product – the Titan Flow Diverter™ – offers rapid occlusion of cerebral aneurysms compared with current leading neurovascular products in the market. The second product in its pipeline, the Engineered Lymph Node™ (ELN), is a TFN-based device for local delivery of cell therapies treating solid tumors. The seed funding, which supplemented several million dollars of NIH funding, has been pivotal for the development of MonarchBio’s Titan Flow Diverter. In preparation for first-in-human trials expected later this year, MonarchBio completed preclinical animal and human simulator testing conducted by a team headed by David Kallmes, M.D., Professor of Radiology, at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Rochester, Minnesota. MonarchBio has thirteen issued U.S. patents in addition to having exclusively licensed a portfolio of patents from UCLA and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center related to various applications of TFN technology. 08/04/2020
