Money will be used to move three preclinical programs into Phase I.
Synageva BioPharma closed a financing round of $30 million. The financing was led by Baker Brothers Investments, and other investors included Tullis Dickerson and Four Partners.
This funding will be utilized to advance the firm’s pipeline, which consists of two clinical-stage and four preclinical compounds. Specifically, Synageva will advance three programs through IND, including two mAbs and a protein therapeutic.
The fourth preclinical candidate as well as the two clinical molecules are cytokine therapies. The company says that it is looking to partner these programs. SBC-014 is an O-glycosylated G-CSF currently nearing the end of Phase II trials. It is being developed via a biosimilar pathway in Europe. SBC-055 is a PEG-cytokine currently completing Phase I studies.
The company’s pipeline is based on its Synageva Expression Platform, or SEP™. It is an integrated technology of proprietary vectors as well as protein production, processing, and purification systems. It reportedly has high expression levels, the ability to produce certain proteins with improved activity and/or safety profiles, more efficient purification processes, rapid scalability, consistency of end product, and substantially reduced costs.
