ADARx Pharmaceuticals, a San Diego startup working on RNA precision medicine technologies, has snagged $46 million in venture capital funding.
The money comes as ADARx’s is beginning a phase 1 clinical trial for its lead product candidate, ADX-324, which involves treatment for a hereditary disease that can cause rapid and potentially life-threatening swelling attacks around the face, extremities, gastrointestinal tract or upper airway.
The 45-employee company announced the investment late last week, and the size of the round is significant in today’s economic environment. Inflation and global market headwinds have slowed startup investment across the country over the past year, with the amount of venture capital flowing into San Diego startups dropping roughly in 2022 compared with 2021.
While getting venture funding is more difficult, money is still available to local startups that hit development or financial milestones, according to industry officials.
ADARx has raised a total of $150 million since it was founded in early 2020 to push forward its RNA targeting platform, which includes techniques that mimic the body’s natural biological processes to silence, inhibit or edit certain disease causing messenger RNA. The goal is to to suppress or disrupt the targeted messenger RNA to prevent illness.
The company was co-founded by Dr. Zhen Li, who is president and chief executive officer. She previously held a senior vice president position at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals and was a director at Merck.
“This is an exciting time for ADARx as we make the transition to a clinical-stage biotechnology company,” she said in a statement. “This round of funding with the of our investor syndicate allows us to pursue our near-term objectives of progressing our first three product candidates into the clinic while continuing our discovery and development efforts across multiple therapeutic areas.”
The latest investment was led by Ascenta Capital. Existing investors including OrbiMed Advisors, SR One Capital Management, Lilly Asia Ventures and Sirona Capital also participated in the financing.
As part of the deal, Dr. Lorence Kim of Ascenta Capital has ed the company’s board of directors.
