By Clinical Research News Staff

October 28, 2026 | KymaThera's $80M Series B carries K-1728 into Phase 1; Microbiotica raises £36M to take MB310 into Phase 2 for ulcerative colitis; Altay Therapeutics closes $37M for Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials in FSHD; and more.

$310M: Series C for Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, Cushing's Syndrome and Lupus Programs
OMass Therapeutics has closed an oversubscribed $310 million (£230 million) Series C co-led by new investors Bain Capital Life Sciences, Forbion and Novo Holdings, with participation from Janus Henderson Investors, Jefferson Life Sciences, Sanofi Ventures, GV, SV Health Investors, Syncona, Oxford Science Enterprises and other existing backers. The Oxford, U.K., company develops small-molecule medicines against complex targets such as membrane proteins and receptors. The money will take OMS1620, an MC2 receptor antagonist, through Phase 2 trials in congenital adrenal hyperplasia and ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome, and generate first clinical data for a potential first-in-class SLC15A4 inhibitor in lupus and other interferon-driven diseases. Representatives of Bain and Forbion join the board. Press release.

$237M: Series E for AI-Guided Oncology Pipeline
Pathos has raised a $237 million Series E led by Bristol Myers Squibb, with participation from existing investors, at a post-money valuation of approximately $3 billion. The New York company is a clinical-stage drug developer whose Foundry platform uses thousands of specialized AI agents to synthesize clinical, genomic and biospecimen data, estimate probability of success and guide asset selection, patient populations and trial design. The funds will scale Foundry and its AI infrastructure and advance four clinical oncology assets: JSKN016, a TROP2/HER3 bispecific ADC moving toward registrational studies; pocenbrodib for prostate cancer and multiple myeloma; AZD4241, an ER PROTAC partnered with AstraZeneca; and MET inhibitor DO-2. Press release.

$150M: Series B for Oral Autoimmune and Inflammatory Disease Drugs
Matchpoint Therapeutics has closed a $150 million Series B co-led by Nextech Invest and Norwest, with participation from Invus, BB Biotech, T1D Fund, BOLD Longevity Growth, Digitalis Ventures and existing investors Access Biotechnology, Atlas Venture and Sanofi Ventures. The Watertown, Mass., company develops precision covalent, first-in-class oral small molecules against biologically validated but hard-to-drug targets. The financing will advance lead asset MPT-062, an oral T cell modulator for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, through preclinical work toward clinical proof of concept, with clinical development expected to begin in 2027. Matchpoint also has a discovery collaboration with Novartis. Representatives of Nextech and Norwest join the board. Press release.

$135M: Series B for FSHD and Heart Failure siRNA Programs
Soufflé Therapeutics has closed an oversubscribed $135 million Series B led by Juvia Group, with participation from TCG Crossover, BB Biotech, Fidelity Management & Research, Balyasny Asset Management, a sovereign wealth fund and existing investors including Amgen Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, Leaps by Bayer and Polaris Partners. The Boston company delivers siRNA therapies to specific cell types beyond the liver using its REMEDY engine, which identifies internalizing receptors and generates binders such as antibodies. The money will move three lead programs into the clinic: a muscle-targeted therapy for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), a phospholamban-silencing therapy for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, and an undisclosed muscle and metabolic program. Press release.

$135M: Series D for Cancer Interception in Lynch Syndrome
Nouscom has closed an oversubscribed €120 million ($135 million) Series D co-led by M Ventures and Revelation Partners, with participation from Angelini Industries, the European Investment Bank, Neva SGR and existing investors 5AM Ventures, Andera Partners, Bpifrance, CDP Venture Capital and EQT Life Sciences. The Basel, Switzerland, company develops off-the-shelf and personalized neoantigen cancer immunotherapies delivered by viral vectors. The funds will support a single global registration-enabling trial of NOUS-209 for cancer interception in people with Lynch syndrome. NOUS-209 delivers 209 shared neoantigens and has FDA Fast Track designation; in Phase 1b/2 data, all evaluable carriers were free of advanced adenomas and colorectal cancer at year one. Press release.

$93M: Series A for Kidney-Targeted Gene Therapies in Polycystic Kidney Disease
Estuary Biotherapeutics has launched with $103 million, comprising a $93 million Series A led by RA Capital Management and a $10 million seed co-led by 4BIO Capital and GV. Deep Track Capital, Biogen New Ventures, UPMC Enterprises, Pivotal bioVenture Partners and the National Kidney Foundation Innovation Fund joined the Series A. Built on research from Yale co-founders Stefan Somlo and Michael Caplan, Estuary develops locally delivered, kidney-targeted AAV gene therapies. The money will take two programs for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) through clinical proof of concept: EST-201, a full-length PKD2 gene therapy expected to enter the clinic in 2027, and EST-101 for PKD1-driven disease, expected in 2028. Press release.

$80M: Series B for PI3Kα-Driven Breast Cancer and Vascular Malformations
KymaThera has raised an $80 million Series B led by Alta Partners, with participation from Venrock, Foresite Capital, J. Wood Capital and others, bringing total funding to more than $100 million. The San Diego company uses structure-based drug discovery to develop precision medicines for genetically defined diseases. The financing will primarily take K-1728, an oral pan-mutant-selective PI3Kα inhibitor, through initial clinical proof of concept in HR+/HER2- breast cancer, alone and in combination, and as monotherapy in PI3Kα-driven vascular malformations. Phase 1 dosing is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026. In preclinical studies, K-1728 hit both kinase- and helical-domain mutations while sparing wild-type PI3Kα. Press release.

$75.5M: Series A for Oral Diabetic Retinopathy Drug
Breye Therapeutics has closed an oversubscribed €67.5 million Series A co-led by new investor Mission BioCapital and existing investor Novo Holdings, with participation from Sound Bioventures, the Ljungström family office, Innovestor Life Science, EIFO, Catalyze Capital, Modi Ventures and Pappas Capital. The Copenhagen company develops oral drugs for early-stage retinal diseases. The funds will take danegaptide, a first-in-class oral small molecule that stabilizes the retinal vasculature, into a randomized Phase 2 trial in non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy starting in 2027, and advance a P2X7 receptor antagonist for intermediate age-related macular degeneration as well as glaucoma candidates. A completed Phase 1b found danegaptide well tolerated at all doses. Press release.

$69.9M: Series B for Heart Failure Phase 2b Trial
AnaCardio has raised a €62.5 million Series B co-led by Novo Holdings and the Ljungström family office, with participation from Helsinn, Pureos Bioventures, Sound Bioventures, Industrifonden, Flerie, LLD Nybohov Invest and new investor Innovestor Life Science, bringing total funding to about €100 million. The Stockholm company is developing AC01, an oral, first-in-class ghrelin receptor agonist designed to improve cardiac contractility in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. The round fully funds GOAL-HF2, a Phase 2b trial of about 400 patients at roughly 100 sites in 12 countries, with the first patient expected in the fourth quarter of 2026 and Phase 3 readiness targeted by 2028. Press release.

$62M: Series C for HER2-Targeted ADC and Novel-Payload Cancer Pipeline
Hexagon Bio has raised a $62 million Series C led by The Column Group, with participation from existing investors Nextech Invest, Deviation Capital, 8VC and CPP Investments. The Menlo Park, Calif., company mines microbial genomes for cytotoxic natural products to use as novel payloads for antibody-drug conjugates. The funds will support a Phase 1 trial of HEX-360, a HER2-targeting ADC with a translation-inhibitor payload, intended for patients who have progressed on or cannot tolerate current ADCs, and expand work on new payload mechanisms and dual payloads. HEX-360 is in IND-enabling studies, with clinic entry expected in the first half of 2027. Hexagon has also formed a breast cancer clinical advisory board. Press release.

$50M: Series B2 for Light-Controlled Biologics Manufacturing
Prolific Machines has raised an initial $50 million Series B2 led by Nant Capital and Atoms & Bits, bringing total funding to more than $100 million. The Emeryville, Calif., company uses optogenetics, or light-controlled gene expression in production cells, to improve biologics development and manufacturing. The money will expand the platform across pharma and biotech programs through its campus and CDMO network, scale its modular illuminator, grow headcount and advance work on biologics, biosimilars, viral vectors and early tissue fabrication. Prolific reported a 21 g/L monoclonal antibody titer in a 15-day CHO run and targets 25 g/L by the end of 2026. It also signed a collaboration with NantWorks. Press release.

$48M: Series A for One-Step Th17 Cell Depletion in Autoimmune Disease
ai3Bio has launched with a $48 million Series A co-led by UPMC Enterprises and Ziff Capital Partners, with participation from Cockrell Interests and Tanis Ventures. The Watertown, Mass., company aims to eliminate disease-causing Th17 cells rather than broadly suppress the immune system. Its STARx platform uses lipid nanoparticles to deliver mRNA that triggers Th17 cell self-destruction, while T Deplete uses an antibody that recruits immune cells to clear them. The funds will advance both platforms, including IND-enabling studies toward first-in-human trials in autoimmune disease. STARx removed Th17 cells in blood samples from autoimmune patients, and T Deplete showed potent efficacy in a non-human primate model. Press release.

$48M: Series C for Ulcerative Colitis Microbiome Therapy
Microbiotica has raised £36 million ($48 million) in the first close of a Series C led by the British Business Bank, with participation from Tencent, IP Group, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Flerie Invest, Seventure Partners and all existing Series B investors. The U.K. company, spun out of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, develops orally dosed live biotherapeutic products using a genomics-driven strain-selection platform. The money will advance MB310 into a randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2 trial in ulcerative colitis after the Phase 1b COMPOSER-1 study met its primary and secondary endpoints. A second candidate, MB097, is in a Phase 1b study in advanced melanoma with MSD's anti-PD-1 therapy. Press release.

$47M: Series A and Non-Dilutive Funding for Cell-Made mRNA Manufacturing
Sensible Biotechnologies has raised $47 million, combining a Series A led by Oxford Science Enterprises with up to $20 million in non-dilutive funding from the Government of Slovakia and the European Union. OTB Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Recode Ventures, Isomer Capital, Y Combinator, BlueYard Capital and the family office of BioNTech co-founder Christoph Huber also invested. The Oxford, England, company produces mRNA inside engineered living cells as an alternative to synthetic in vitro transcription. The funds will scale its VECTOR platform, expand AI-enabled mRNA design and automated screening, and build clinical-grade manufacturing with partner Sartorius. External evaluations found no detectable dsRNA and higher protein expression than synthetic mRNA. Press release.

$45M: Seed for Fragile X Syndrome RNA Therapeutics
Aptadir Therapeutics has raised a €40 million ($45 million) seed round led by 4BIO Capital, described as the largest biotech seed financing in Italy. CDP Venture Capital, Xgen Ventures, Indaco Bio, CE-Ventures, Angelini Ventures, Kerna Ventures and Italian Angels for Biotech also invested, along with follow-on funding from Italy's EXTEND initiative. The Milan company develops RNA therapeutics based on DNMT-interacting RNAs, which block aberrant DNA methylation at individual genes to reactivate genes silenced in genetic disorders and cancer. The money will advance its demethylating RNA pipeline toward the clinic, led by a candidate for Fragile X syndrome, with oncology programs including myelodysplastic syndrome. Press release.

$42M: Series A for Tumor-Activated Bispecific ADC in Solid Tumors
Allygen Biologics has closed a Series A of more than RMB 300 million (about $42 million) led by Sherpa Healthcare Partners, with participation from the Beijing Medical and Health Industry Investment Fund, Qiming Venture Partners, Zhuhai Science and Technology Industry Group, Huagai Capital, TigerYeah Capital and W Capital. The Chinese company develops targeted conjugate drugs using its STAR technology, which releases payload in the tumor microenvironment, across three platforms: bispecific ADCs, antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates and antibody-degrader conjugates. The funds will advance lead candidate ALG01, its first STAR bispecific ADC for solid tumors, into Phase 1, and develop additional conjugate programs. Fu'an Capital served as financial advisor. Press release.

$37M: Series A for Oral DUX4 Inhibitor in FSHD
Altay Therapeutics has closed a $37 million Series A co-led by Sound Bioventures and HealthCap, with participation from Fountain Healthcare Partners, Biogen New Ventures, Pappas Capital and Global BioAccess Fund. The company uses in silico modeling to drug hard-to-target transcription factors. The funds will take lead candidate DX5057, an oral small-molecule DUX4 inhibitor, through Phase 1 and a Phase 2 proof-of-concept trial in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), and support its discovery platform, which also includes STAT3 and ETS-family inhibitors for oncology. DX5057 has FDA orphan drug designation and preserved muscle function in nonclinical studies. Patient group SOLVE FSHD has backed Altay since 2022 with nearly $7 million in seed funding. Press release.

$36M: Series B for Microsensor Continuous Glucose Monitor in Diabetes
Sava has raised a £27 million ($36 million) Series B led by Ascensia Diabetes Care, with participation from Balderton Capital, Norrsken VC, Simplyhealth Ventures, JamJar Investments and Pentland Ventures, bringing total funding to £51 million. The London company is developing a wearable continuous glucose monitor that uses microsensors about 10 times shorter than conventional CGM filaments to measure glucose just beneath the skin. The money will scale manufacturing and build infrastructure for its first commercial product. Under a concurrent agreement, Ascensia gains exclusive commercialization and distribution rights, initially in Europe, subject to regulatory approval. Sava plans a pivotal study and targets a CE mark within 18 to 24 months. Press release.

$33M: Series B for Gut and Vaginal Microbiome Testing
Tiny Health has closed an oversubscribed $33 million Series B led by B Capital, with participation from Spero Ventures, The Venture City, Overwater Ventures, Black Opal Ventures, Pave Health Ventures, Alumni Ventures and others, bringing total funding to $46 million. The Austin, Texas, company offers gut and vaginal microbiome tests using shotgun metagenomic sequencing. The money will fund clinical research and interventional studies, practitioner education, its B2B platform Powered by Tiny and its TinyAI tools; the company also launched a separate $5 million research program for outside investigators. Tiny Health reports nearly 200,000 customers and more than 6,000 practitioners and is running a second randomized trial in infant eczema. Press release.

$30M: Series A for Clinical Genetic Testing and Genomically Stratified Trials
Arboretum LifeSciences has emerged from stealth with a $30 million Series A co-led by F-Prime, GV, .406 Ventures, Hims & Hers and Amgen. The Cambridge, Mass., company, founded by leaders of the Broad Institute's Data Sciences Platform, describes itself as an AI-native molecular information company. It provides clinical genetic testing and a research network to health systems, and helps drug developers run genomically stratified trials in common diseases such as cardiovascular, metabolic and autoimmune conditions. Launch partners include Advocate Health, Geisinger, Providence and Cardiovascular Associates of America. Amgen is both an investor and a drug-development collaborator. CEO Anthony Philippakis is also a general partner at GV. Press release.

$26M: Series B for AI-Designed Gene Therapy Delivery for CNS Diseases
WhiteLab Genomics has raised a $26 million Series B led by AVP, with participation from new investors Yaday Health and Blast Club and existing investors Omnes Capital and Debiopharm Innovation Fund. The Paris company's ALFRED platform uses AI to design and optimize viral and non-viral delivery systems and genetic payloads for cell and gene therapies. The money will accelerate in vivo validation of its delivery technologies and payloads and fund commercial expansion in North America, Europe and Asia, including a stronger Boston hub and new presence on the U.S. West Coast, Japan and South Korea. With the Paris Brain Institute, ALFRED-designed AAVs crossed the blood-brain barrier in vivo with a strong brain-to-liver targeting ratio. Press release.

$25M: Seed for AI Virtual Cell Model Predicting Treatment Response
Rivercell has launched with a $25 million seed round led by HV Capital, with participation from HCVC, Alven, Bpifrance Digital Venture and angel investors from Twist Bioscience, DNA Script, Agilent and Abivax. The Paris company generates interventional, time-resolved, multimodal single-cell data in-house and uses it to train an AI world model of the cell that predicts how human cells respond to treatment. The funds will scale its data generation platform, expand its Paris wet lab and launch its AI Virtual Cell program, including shipping its first model. CEO Yann Fleureau previously co-founded Cardiologs, acquired by Philips in 2021; co-founder Eric Durand was chief data science officer at Owkin. Press release.

$24M: Seed for Early Alzheimer's Disease Gamma-Secretase Modulator
Acta Pharmaceuticals has raised $24 million in total seed financing from investors including the Alzheimer's Disease Research Foundation, Dolby Family Ventures, Gamma Bio Investors and family offices. The Boston company, built on research by scientific founder Rudolph Tanzi of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard, develops therapies for earlier intervention in Alzheimer's disease. The funds will advance GSM-779690T, a once-daily oral gamma-secretase modulator that lowers Aβ42 while raising shorter amyloid species, through clinical development, and expand an early-intervention pipeline that includes combination therapies. A Phase 1 study in healthy volunteers was planned to begin in October 2026. Acta also licensed an Alzheimer's-in-a-Dish platform from MGH. Press release.

$21.5M: Financing for Autoimmune Uveitis and Inflammatory Disease Programs
Arctic Therapeutics has closed an oversubscribed $21.5 million financing, upsized from its original target and led by Pekron, Sanos Group, Kaldbakur and Landvættir. The company, based in Reykjavík, Iceland, and Philadelphia, was spun out of the Center for Applied Genomics at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and develops treatments based on human genetic discoveries. The money will mainly advance preclinical programs AT-002, for autoimmune uveitis, and AT-003, for autoimmune diseases and Parkinson's linked to CLEC16A variants, while the company seeks partners for lead programs AT-001 and AT-004. AT-001 has completed the 12-month core treatment period of a pivotal Phase IIb/III study in hereditary cystatin C amyloid angiopathy. Press release.