Table 1 Top 10 A rounds in 2012 for innovative startups
From: Innovative startups 2012
Company | Amount (millions), date, investors | Academic founders | Other | Technology |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Global Blood Therapeutics, San Francisco | $40.7, 6/14, Third Rock Ventures | Matthew P. Jacobson, Andrej Sali and Jack Taunton, University of California, San Francisco | Charles Homcy, Third Rock Ventures; Craig Muir, Third Rock Ventures; David Phillips, cofounder of COR Therapeutics and Portola Pharmaceuticals | Using computational biology and protein-ligand modeling with medicinal chemistry and empiric screening for developing therapeutics for genetic blood disorders |
Moderna Therapeutics, Cambridge, Massachusetts | $40, 12/6, Flagship Ventures, private investors | Robert Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Derrick Rossi, Harvard University | Noubar Afeyan, Flagship Ventures; Stéphane Bancel, previously CEO of bioMérieux | Developing first-in-class chemically modified mRNA therapeutics |
MyoKardia, San Francisco | $38, 9/20, Third Rock Ventures | Leslie Leinwand, University of Colorado Boulder; Christine Seidman, Harvard; Jonathan G. Seidman, Harvard; James A. Spudich, Stanford University | Not applicable | Developing mutation-specific sarcomeric allosteric modulators for cardiomyopathies |
Allakos, San Francisco | $32, 12/17, Novo Ventures, Alta Partners, RiverVest Venture Partners, Roche Venture Fund | Not applicable | Christopher Bebbington, more than 25 years of experience in biopharma | Developing antibody therapeutics based on the dysregulation of the T helper type 2 immune response |
Cerecor, Baltimore | $22, 4/4, accredited investors, company directors | Solomon H. Snyder, Johns Hopkins University; Barbara Slusher, Brain Science Institute Drug NeuroTranslational Discovery Program | Isaac Blech and Blake Paterson, serial entrepreneurs | Developing drugs for the nervous system including cough and schizophrenia |
BioMotiv, Cleveland | $21, 9/5, University Hospitals (UH), Harrington family | Board of Managers: Achilles A. Demetriou, UH; Jonathan S. Stamler, UH Harrington Discovery Institute; Ronald G. Harrington and Robert S. Reitman, entrepreneurs and philanthropists; Robert W. Keith, CEO, BioMotiv; David C. U'Prichard, CSO, BioMotiv | Accelerator for aligning capital and collaborations with physician inventors | |
Atterocor, Ann Arbor, Michigan | $16, 8/3, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, 5AM Ventures | Gary Hammer, University of Michigan | Julia Owens, formerly at Lycera Corp.; Raili Kerppola, ONL Therapeutics | Lead program in rare (adrenal) cancer |
Thesan Pharmaceuticals, San Clemente, California | $16, 10/30, Novo Ventures, Novartis Venture Funds | Daniele Piomelli, University of California, Irvine and the Italian Institute of Technology | Not applicable | Lead candidate a topically applied new chemical entity for dermatology expected to enter the clinic in 2013 |
Vascular Pharmaceuticals, Chapel Hill, North Carolina | $16M, 9/12, Intersouth Partners, MPM Capital | David R. Clemmons, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Not applicable | Developing monoclonal antibody with activity against proteinuria and histological changes in the kidney |
ImaginAb, Inglewood, California | $12.5, 3/26, Novartis Venture Funds, Mérieux Développement, Nextech Invest, Cycad Group, Momentum Biosciences | Robert Reiter, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Anna Wu, UCLA and the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope; Tove Olafsen, UCLA | Christian Behrenbruch, serial entrepreneur | In vivo imaging agents for positron emission tomography based on antibody fragment technology |
