San Fran­cis­co-based Aeov­ian Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals has banked $37 mil­lion in Se­ries A fi­nanc­ing to launch its mTORC1 in­hibitor in­to a proof-of-con­cept for what the com­pa­ny says is an undis­closed rare CNS dis­ease.

Linked to a num­ber of ag­ing and nu­tri­ent-sens­ing process­es, the mTOR path­way has typ­i­cal­ly been seen as a rich tar­get for phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­nies hop­ing to make in­roads in lifes­pan/healthspan ex­ten­sion. The se­cre­cy be­hind the ‘undis­closed dis­ease’ is not un­usu­al in a field where re­search is of­ten paint­ed with the broad brush of ‘age-re­lat­ed dis­eases.’ Part of Aeov­ian’s IP comes from the Buck In­sti­tute in No­va­to, Cal­i­for­nia, an in­de­pen­dent re­search in­sti­tute ded­i­cat­ed sole­ly to study­ing con­nec­tions be­tween ag­ing and chron­ic dis­ease.

The mech­a­nisms be­hind mTOR — the mam­malian tar­get of ra­pamycin — are not ful­ly un­der­stood, but re­searchers be­lieve it plays key roles in cell me­tab­o­lism, growth and sur­vival, point­ing to a role in tu­mor for­ma­tion and type 2 di­a­betes, among oth­ers.

ven­Bio Part­ners and Sofinno­va In­vest­ments co-led the round, who joined found­ing in­vestors Apol­lo Health Ven­tures and Evotec SE.

Biopharma’s resident antibody-drug conjugate expert Seagen has scored a clutch of oncology approvals in recent years, finding gold in what are known as “third-gen” ADCs. Now, another of their partnered conjugates is ready for prime time.

The FDA on Monday handed an accelerated approval to Seagen and Genmab’s Tivdak (tisotumab vedotin-tftv, or “TV”) in second-line patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer who previously progressed after chemotherapy rather than PD-(L)1 systemic therapy, the companies said in a release.

In the insular world of biotech, a spectacular failure can sometimes stay on any executive’s record for a long time. But for David Meek, the man at the helm of FerGene’s recent implosion, two questionable exits made way for what could be an excellent rebound.

Meek, most recently FerGene’s CEO and a past head at Ipsen, has become CEO at Mirati Therapeutics, taking the reins from founding CEO Charles Baum, who will step over into the role of president and head of R&D, according to a release.

For a first-time fund, Jeito Capital talks a lot about continuity.

Rafaèle Tordjman had spotlighted that concept ever since she started building the firm in 2018, promising to go the extra mile(s) with biotech entrepreneurs while pushing them to reach patients faster.

Coincidentally, the lack of continuity was one of the sore spots listed in a report about the European healthcare sector published that same year by the European Investment Bank — whose fund is one of the LPs, alongside the American pension fund Teacher Retirement System of Texas and Singapore’s Temasek, to help Jeito close its first fund at $630 million (€534 million). As previously reported, Sanofi had chimed in €50 million, marking its first investment in a French life sciences fund.

Illumina Ventures closed off its second investment fund with a total commitment of $325 million, offering fresh fuel to back a slate of startups that have already included a smorgasbord of companies, covering everything from diagnostics to biotech drug development and genomics.

Fund II brings the total investment under Illumina Ventures’ oversight to $560 million, which has been focused on early-stage companies. And it has a transatlantic portfolio that includes SQZ, Twist and Encoded Therapeutics.

Several months after emerging from what CEO Raju Mohan called “quiet mode” with a mammoth $114 million raise, Ventyx Biosciences is now making its plans for the clinic loud and clear.

The California-based immune modulation player kicked the week off with a $51 million Series B, while also naming some key hires ahead of its big clinical push.

The CMO slot is going to Jörn Drappa, former CMO at Viela Bio before it was bought out by Horizon Therapeutics earlier this year. The AstraZeneca vet stayed on at Horizon for a while as executive VP of R&D before making the jump to Ventyx.