February 10, 2022 -- Ventus Therapeutics closed $140 million in series C financing. The funding will allow the company to scale its Resolve platform to address targets previously considered undruggable and enhance its performance by automating processes, expanding machine-learning capabilities, and constructing larger proprietary virtual libraries.
Additionally, the company plans to target key modulators in the innate immune system, including nucleotide-binding oligomerization, leucine-rich repeat, and pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (GMP)-adenosine monophosphate synthase (cGAS) that have been extensively implicated in human disease, Ventus said.
Ventus' lead drug program, Vent-01, is a peripherally restricted, small molecule inhibitor compound targeting NLRP3. NLRP3 is a key mediator of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1b and IL-18. The company has a second drug program, which is a brain-penetrating NLRP3 inhibitor. Ventus' third drug program targets cGAS, a key regulator of the cGAS/stimulator of interferon genes pathway.
Ventus Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company using structural biology and computational tools to identify and develop small molecule therapeutics across a broad range of disease indications, with an initial focus on immunology, inflammation, and neurology.
The round was co-led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and RA Capital Management, with participation from various other investors.
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