Up­start Ex­pan­sion bags a $55M launch round to join the hunt for RNA-tar­get­ing small mol­e­cules

Ar­rakis isn’t the on­ly biotech start­up look­ing to de­vel­op RNA-tar­get­ed small mol­e­cule drugs. Now they have a ri­val in Ex­pan­sion Ther­a­peu­tics, a San Diego-based biotech with R&D roots in the lab of Scripps’ Matthew Dis­ney, who’s had a long­time in­ter­est ex­plor­ing the field.

Ex­pan­sion is hav­ing a com­ing out par­ty this morn­ing, cel­e­brat­ing a sub­stan­tial $55.3 mil­lion launch round from some A-list in­vestors: 5AM Ven­tures and Klein­er Perkins led the round, with help from No­var­tis Ven­ture Fund, and Sanofi Ven­tures as well as par­tic­i­pa­tion from RA Cap­i­tal Man­age­ment and Alexan­dria Ven­ture In­vest­ments.

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