San Diego’s Boundless Bio, which is developing precision therapies to block certain genes from morphing cells into tumors, snagged $100 million in a third round of venture capital funding.
The company will use the money to continue its initial clinical trial for its small molecule therapies that target extrachromosomal DNA — genetic material associated with certain cancers.
It has been detected in 14 percent of early stage cancers and up to 40 percent of metastatic cancers, according to the company. These “oncogene amplified” tumors have proven difficult to treat using current therapies.
Leaps by Bayer, the investment arm of drug giant Bayer, led the funding round with RA Capital Management. Other new investors include Sectoral Asset Management and Piper Heartland Healthcare Capital.
“The ability to address oncogene amplified cancers has remained one of the industry’s greatest challenges in the treatment of cancer,” said Dr. Juergen Eckhardt, head of Leaps by Bayer. He added that the Boundless Bio approach has the “potential to impact the lives of patients who currently have no effective standard of care.”
The latest funding brings the total raised by Boundless Bio to $250 million since it was founded in 2018. The life sciences startup employs 66 workers.
Boundless Bio said it’s the first company wholly dedicated to developing novel therapeutics for patients with oncogene-amplified cancers.
Chief Executive Zachary Hornby said the financing spotlights the company’s momentum toward developing a treatment for up to 400,000 patients in the U.S. each year who are diagnosed with these types of cancers.
Boundless Bio’s funding comes as the pace of money flowing to startups has dropped dramatically — not only in San Diego but nationwide. It is just the fourth local company to raise $100 million or more in a single round this year — ing marketing software platform SOCi, vehicle telematics firm Platform Sciences and neurological drug discovery outfit Rapport Therapeutics.
Boundless Bio’s existing investors also participated in the financing. Fabio Pucci of Leaps by Bayer will the Boundless Bio Board of Directors.
