Kymera Therapeutics Secures $65 Million Series B Financing to Advance Targeted Protein Degradation Pipeline

VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) has learned that on November 13, 2018, Eastern Time, Kymera, an innovative biopharmaceutical R&D company, announced the completion of a $65 million Series B financing round. The round was co-led by 6 Dimensions Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Pfizer Ventures. In addition to Kymera’s Series A investors, participants in this round included MRL Ventures Fund, Sanofi Ventures, Hatteras Venture Partners, and Aju IB Investment.

The company intends to use the funds for clinical drug development and to advance its therapeutic pipeline in oncology and immunology. Following the completion of this financing round, Kymera has raised a total of $95 million across two rounds, with early investors including prominent firms such as Atlas Venture.

Kymera was founded in 2016 by Dr. Laurent Audoly, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Dr. Nello Mainolfi, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer.

Image source:Kymera TherapeuticsOfficial Website 

Kymera is dedicated to pioneering novel targeted protein degradation approaches to develop breakthrough therapies for currently incurable diseases. Its innovative method leverages the body’s intrinsic protein degradation and recycling machinery—the ubiquitin-proteasome system—to degrade and eliminate pathogenic proteins. This mechanism of action differs from that of traditional small-molecule drugs, which inhibit the catalytic function of proteins. Employing a small-molecule-mediated knockdown strategy, Kymera is developing bifunctional molecules that recruit specific pathogenic proteins to E3 ubiquitin ligases, leading to ubiquitination and subsequent irreversible degradation of the target proteins.

To date, the development of protein degradation therapies has been largely driven by empirical approaches, which has limited the discovery and development of new drugs.

Kymera’s proprietary integrated degradation R&D platform, Pegasus™, comprises informatics-driven target identification, novel E3 ubiquitin ligases and ligands, proprietary predictive models, and novel degradation tools.

“Kymera is truly at the forefront of targeted protein degradation, one of the most exciting new frontiers in drug discovery and medicine. With an incredible team, advisors, partners, and a unique focus on rational drug discovery, the company has rapidly emerged as a leader in the field and is well-positioned to benefit patients,” said Bruce Booth, Ph.D., Co-founder of Kymera and Partner and Chairman of Atlas Venture.

Kymera Therapeutics is a biotechnology company pioneering transformative new approaches to treating diseases that are currently untreatable. The company is advancing into the field of targeted protein degradation, leveraging the body’s inherent protein degradation and recycling machinery to degrade dysregulated disease-causing proteins. Powered by its game-changing integrated degradation platform, Pegasus™, Kymera is accelerating the development of novel therapeutics.

Pegasus™ is Kymera Therapeutics’ proprietary protein degradation platform, created by its team of experienced drug hunters to enhance the efficacy of targeted protein degradation and pioneer novel therapies for previously untreatable diseases. The platform comprises informatics-driven target identification, novel E3 ubiquitin ligases and ligands, proprietary predictive models, and innovative degradation modalities.

6 Dimensions Capital is a leading healthcare investment firm. Composed of a team of approximately 40 investment and operations professionals, the firm maintains offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Boston, and Palo Alto. It currently manages $1.6 billion in assets and has nurtured more than 80 portfolio companies.