Black Diamond Therapeutics, a precision oncology medicine company that is pioneering the discovery and development of small molecule tumor-agnostic therapies, today announced the completion of the $85 million oversubscribed Series C funding led by Boxer Capital of the Tavistock Group. New additional investors Wellington Management Company, BVF Partners L P: P , Deerfield Management, funds managed by Janus Henderson Investors, Casdin Capital, and Logos Capital have joined the current investors Versant Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, RA Capital Management, Nextech Invest, Invus, Perceptive Advisors, City Hill Ventures, and Roche Venture Fund in the roundtable.
Series C funding proceeds will be used to support the growth of the company and advance the development of Black Diamond’s leading product candidates targeting oncogenic driver mutations of ErbB kinase in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) The Company plans to launch a combined phase 1/2 clinical trial of its most advanced product candidate, BDTX-189, in the first half of 2020. The funding will also support the continued expansion of the Company’s early stage research programs and proprietary mutation-allostery-pharmacology (MAP) platform to identify and target oncogenic mutations. The Company initially operated in stealth mode from New York and Versant’s Basel-based Ridgeline Discovery Engine and has raised $194 million since its founding.
David’s M Epstein, President and CEO of Black Diamond, said, “We are privileged to have this impressive syndicate of thought-leading investors share our commitment to patients and support our vision to discover and develop therapies that will potentially transform how cancer is treated. Currently, no FDA approved drugs target certain allosteric and other EGFR and HER2 mutations that are prevalent in a variety of cancers with single therapy, including those with deadly cancers such as lung cancer or glioblastoma that express these mutations. This funding will help accelerate the development of our leading product candidates targeting undrugged oncogenic EGFR and HER2 driver mutations so that we can get potential new treatments to patients as quickly as possible. “That’s right.
Commenting on the investment, Aaron Davis, CEO of Boxer Capital said, “Black Diamond’s ground-breaking MAP platform could revolutionize how we discover and develop new oncology treatments, particularly for some of the most difficult cancers to treat. We are pleased to partner with this group of leading investors and an experienced management team in this effort. “That’s right.
In addition, Black Diamond announced the appointment of Samarth (Sam) Kulkarni, Ph.D. D. D. to the Board of Directors Sam is the industry leader with expertise in biotech strategy and operations and a wide range of pioneering therapeutic technologies and currently serves as CEO of CRISPR Therapeutics AG. He joined CRISPR in 2015 at the early stage of the company as Chief Business Officer (CBO) and then served as President and CEO of CBO before being named CEO of CRISPR in 2017.
“We’re thrilled to have Sam join the Board of Directors of Black Diamond His wealth of experience and proven track record of strategic business achievements and the advancement of innovative therapeutic technologies will be invaluable as we continue to advance our portfolio and design our programs for clinical success,” added Dr. Epstein’s
Prior to CRISPR, Sam was a partner at McKinsey & Company, where he played a leading role in the practice of pharmaceutical and medical products. While at McKinsey, he co-led the biotechnology practice and focused on topics ranging from strategy to operation, and led initiatives in areas such as personalized medicine and immunotherapy. Sam also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Casebia Therapeutics, a joint subsidiary of CRISPR and Bayer. He was given a Ph. D. D. Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at the University of Washington and B. Tech’s The Indian Institute of Technology Sam has been conducting research at the University of Washington on the delivery of biological drugs and molecular diagnostics. He has written several publications in leading scientific and business journals.
“It’s an exciting time to join the Board of Directors of Black Diamond The company has a tremendous momentum and I believe it has a significant potential to change how we treat cancer through its MAP platform and discovery engine,” said Dr. Kulkarni:
Black Diamond MAP Platform
The Black Diamond Mutation-Allostery-Pharmacology (MAP) platform is built on three central pillars-discover, reveal and target. The company uses population-level cancer genetic data from all types of tumors to identify potential mutation families that occur within individual oncogenes and to rank mutations for potential oncogenicity. Black Diamond then uses its MAP platform to understand the mechanism for oncogenic activation, and its team of experienced medicinal chemists develops the spectrum mutation-selective drugs for the identified targets.
Black Diamond’s MAP platform has generated a pipeline of oral, potent, and selective small molecule kinase inhibitors that target a range of cancer driver mutations. The first two programs of the Company are aimed at groups of EGFR and HER2 allosteric mutants.
About Black Diamonds
Black Diamond Therapeutics is a precision oncology medicine company that is pioneering the discovery of small molecules of tumor agnostic therapy. Black Diamond targets undrugged mutations in patients with genetically defined cancer Black Diamond is built on a deep understanding of cancer genetics, protein structure and function, and medicinal chemistry. The Company’s proprietary technology platform, Mutation-Allostery-Pharmacology, or MAP, is designed to allow Black Diamond to analyze population-level genetic sequencing data to identify oncogenic mutations that promote cancer across tumor types, group these mutations into families, and develop a single small molecular therapy in a tumor-agnostic manner that targets a specific family of patients. Black Diamond has been founded by David M Epstein, Ph.D. D. D. And, uh, Elizabeth Buck, Ph D. D. Starting in 2017, together with Versant Ventures, the construction of the MAP platform and the chemistry discovery engine began. Please visit www for more information. Therapeutics of Bd Come on,
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