Carolyn Bertozzi and Versant's new biotech breaks cover with $94M to use protein degraders in ADCs
In the bustling world of antibody-drug conjugates, few biopharmas have revealed ambitions for combining antibodies with protein degraders, rather than chemo or other cytotoxic drugs.
Firefly Bio was unveiled Thursday with a $94 million Series A from Versant Ventures’ discovery unit in Basel, Switzerland, as well as backing from MPM BioImpact, Decheng Capital and Eli Lilly.
ADCs have been one of biopharma’s hottest areas for dealmaking. Lilly has inked two acquisitions in the ADC field in recent quarters. And late last year, Bristol Myers Squibb paid $100 million upfront to snag a Phase I-cleared ADC with a similar approach to Firefly’s, out of Orum Therapeutics. But using degraders in ADCs is nascent.
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