- Financing led by life sciences venture capital firm Forbion,
alongside existing investors Syncona and Oxford Science
Enterprises, as well as new investors TCGX and Advent Life
Sciences
- Round will accelerate the development of lead asset AGTC-501
and broader pipeline
- Beacon appoints Dmitrij Hristodorov, Wouter Joustra, and Cariad Chester to Board of Directors;
Dominic Schmidt joins as a Board
Observer
LONDON and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 3, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Beacon Therapeutics Holdings Limited ('Beacon
Therapeutics' or 'the Company'), a leading ophthalmic gene therapy
company with a mission to save and restore the vision of patients
with blinding retinal diseases, today announced it has raised
$170 million in Series B funding.
Forbion led the financing, which included existing investors
Syncona Limited, Oxford Science Enterprises and the University of Oxford, as well as initial
investments from TCGX and Advent Life Sciences. The funds will be
used to support the continued clinical development of Beacon's lead
asset, AGTC-501 for X-Linked Retinitis Pigmentosa (XLRP) and
generate Phase 1/2 clinical trial data for the Company's Dry
Age-related Macular Degeneration (dAMD) program.
Beacon Therapeutics also appointed Dmitrij Hristodorov and
Wouter Joustra, General Partners of
Forbion, and Cariad Chester,
Managing Partner of TCGX, to its Board of Directors. Dominic Schmidt, General Partner of Advent Life
Sciences, joins as a Board Observer.
Beacon is focused on both orphan and prevalent diseases,
including XLRP, a blinding orphan disease for which there is no
available treatment, as well as dAMD. AGTC-501, the Company's lead
asset, is currently in a registrational clinical trial for the
treatment of XLRP. AGTC-501 expresses the full length RPGR protein,
thereby addressing all photoreceptor damage caused by XLRP,
including both rod and cone loss.
David Fellows, Chief Executive
Officer of Beacon Therapeutics, said, "We are focused on
progressing our pipeline of ophthalmic gene therapies to save and
restore the vision of patients with a range of prevalent and rare
retinal diseases that result in blindness. I am confident that
along with the addition of Dmitrij Hristodorov, Wouter Joustra and Cariad Chester to the Beacon Board, these funds
will support the ongoing development of our late-stage and
pre-clinical pipeline and enable acceleration of the development of
AGTC-501 as we progress through the clinic and toward
commercialization."
"Forbion is pleased to support Beacon Therapeutics at this
critical juncture in the development of its pipeline of pioneering
ophthalmic gene therapies. Beacon's deep expertise and renowned
management bench give us confidence in the plan to build a leading
retinal gene therapy company," shared Dmitrij Hristodorov, General
Partner at Forbion.
Elisa Petris, Lead Partner at
Syncona Investment Management Limited and Board Director of Beacon
Therapeutics, said, "Syncona's continued backing of Beacon
Therapeutics is a testament to the Company's proven leadership team
and innovative approach to developing gene therapies for retinal
diseases. This financing and the partnership of this high-quality
syndicate will propel Beacon's pipeline and enable the Company to
advance its programs for both rare and prevalent ophthalmic
diseases."
Beacon has raised approximately $290
million in funding to date. This funding round follows
several clinical milestones for the company, including the first
patient dosed in the VISTA registrational trial for AGTC-501, the
initiation of the Phase II DAWN trial and the presentation of
positive 12-month interim results of the Phase 2 SKYLINE trial at
the 47th Annual Macula Society Meeting demonstrating the
precision, effectiveness and safety of Beacon's therapeutic
interventions.
J.P. Morgan acted as sole placement agent to Beacon Therapeutics
for this transaction.
About Beacon Therapeutics
Beacon Therapeutics is an
ophthalmic gene therapy company founded in 2023 to save and restore
the vision of patients with a range of prevalent and rare retinal
diseases that result in blindness.
The Company has an established scientific foundation that
combines a late-stage development candidate to treat X-linked
retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP), as well as two preclinical programs,
one targeting dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and
another targeting cone-rod dystrophy (CRD), an inherited retinal
disease.
Lead development candidate AGTC-501, is a gene therapy program
currently being investigated for the treatment of XLRP, an
inherited monogenic recessive disorder that causes progressive
vision loss in boys and young men. XLRP is predominantly caused by
mutations in the retinitis pigmentosa GTPase regulator (RPGR) gene.
AGTC-501 expresses the full length RPGR protein, thereby addressing
the full complement of photoreceptor damage caused by XLRP,
including both rod and cone loss.
Beacon Therapeutics also has access to a target generation
technology platform that will identify, screen, and search secreted
proteins in the ophthalmology space.
Find out more about Beacon Therapeutics at beacontx.com.
Contact:
info@beacontx.com
Media:
beacontherapeutics@edelman.com
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SOURCE Beacon Therapeutics