At­las, No­vo-backed biotech reels in ex-Nim­bus CEO Don Nichol­son as ex­ec chair­man, hooks $50M to con­quer ane­mia

Bri­an Mac­Don­ald’s orig­i­nal for­ay in­to treat­ing iron dys­reg­u­la­tion by in­ject­ing hep­cidin, a small pep­tide hor­mone key for iron home­osta­sis, didn’t quite get off the ground. This time, the for­mer GSK ex­ec­u­tive is tak­ing a fresh ap­proach — by reg­u­lat­ing hep­cidin ex­pres­sion with­in the body.

His new com­pa­ny, called Disc Med­i­cine, was seed­ed by At­las Ven­ture in 2017. On Tues­day, it emerged with $50 mil­lion in se­ries A fund­ing, led by No­vo Hold­ings A/S and the par­tic­i­pa­tion of Ac­cess Biotech­nol­o­gy and found­ing in­vestor At­las Ven­ture. The Cam­bridge, Mass­a­chu­setts-based com­pa­ny has al­so lured the for­mer CEO of Nim­bus Ther­a­peu­tics, Don Nichol­son, as its ex­ec­u­tive chair­man.

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