Series A
co-led by 5AM Ventures and MPM Capital, along with other top investors
Dipal
Doshi appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer
BOSTON,
Mass., Dec. 18, 2018 – Entrada Therapeutics, a biotechnology company dedicated to transforming the treatment of devastating diseases through the intracellular delivery of biologics, today announced it has raised $59 million in a Series A financing. The financing was co-led by 5AM Ventures and MPM Capital, along with Roche Venture Fund, MRL Ventures Fund (MRLV) and Agent Capital.
“With this financing, Entrada is
well-positioned to advance multiple programs through the application of our
proprietary intracellular biologics platform,” said Dipal Doshi, President and
Chief Executive Officer of Entrada Therapeutics. “Entrada has an opportunity to
create the next generation of therapeutics for previously undruggable
intracellular targets. Leveraging the exciting science from the lab of our
Co-Founder, Dehua Pei, at The Ohio State University, we look forward to
building a world-class team that will translate this platform into meaningful
therapies.”
Entrada was funded and incubated
within 5AM’s 4:59 Initiative via a seed investment by 5AM Ventures, Roche
Venture Fund and MRLV. Entrada’s proprietary intracellular biologics platform has
the demonstrated ability to deliver a variety of modalities into the cytosol of
the cell, allowing for the development of programs across several intracellular
target classes. Entrada’s delivery vehicles boast improved bioavailability,
biodistribution, metabolic stability and enhanced efficiency compared to previous
gold standards. The Company is applying its platform to the delivery of
intracellular enzyme replacement therapies, protein-protein interaction
inhibitors and nucleic acids.
The first application of Entrada’s
platform is focused on treating a rare and fatal mitochondrial disease with no approved
treatments that is caused by mutations in a gene that codes for an
intracellular enzyme. The Series A financing will allow Entrada to
advance its lead program into human clinical trials. Additionally, the Company
plans on broadening its rare, monogenic disease pipeline by identifying and
progressing additional intracellular enzyme replacement therapies.
“Patients with severe, debilitating
diseases still suffer without suitable treatment options,” said Kush Parmar,
M.D., Ph.D., Managing Partner at 5AM Ventures. “Entrada has an executive team
that is capable of tackling the challenges posed by the delivery of biologics
into the cell. Entrada is focused on leveraging a highly validated biological
mechanism to fundamentally change the standard of care for several of these
diseases via multiple intracellular targets.”
“Entrada’s unique vision to transform
the treatment paradigm of certain diseases via intracellular biologics delivery
could result in innovative treatments for thousands of patients,” said Todd
Foley, Managing Director at MPM Capital. “While there has been extensive
development of biologics that address extracellular targets, there is a
significant opportunity for novel biologics that address intracellular targets.
Entrada’s strategy and technology address this profound unmet need.”
Executive
Team and Board of Directors
Executive
Team
Dipal Doshi is the President and Chief
Executive Officer of Entrada Therapeutics. Mr. Doshi has over 20 years of
pharmaceutical experience, most recently serving as the Chief Business Officer
for Amicus Therapeutics. Mr. Doshi led Amicus’ business and corporate
development, global strategy, new product planning and commercial planning
functions. Prior to Amicus, Mr. Doshi worked for Auven Therapeutics, Catalent
Pharma Solutions, Merrill Lynch and Eli Lilly. Mr. Doshi received a B.A. from
Rutgers University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of
Pennsylvania.
Natarajan Sethuraman, Ph.D., is the
Chief Scientific Officer of Entrada Therapeutics. Prior to this role, Dr.
Sethuraman was Executive Director and the GlycoFi Site Head at Merck, where he
was responsible for the development of GlycoFi’s glycoengineered platform for
differentiated biologics. Dr. Sethuraman holds a B.S. from Tamil Nadu
Agricultural University and a Ph.D. in Entomology, Molecular Biology and
Biochemistry from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute.
Board
of Directors
In addition to Mr. Doshi, Dr. Parmar
and Mr. Foley, the Entrada Board of Directors also includes:
- Anja Harmeier, Ph.D., Investment Director,
Roche Venture Fund
- Christine Brennan, Ph.D., Partner, MRLV
- Lou Tartaglia, Ph.D., Venture Partner, 5AM
Ventures. Dr. Tartaglia also served as Entrada’s Chief Executive Officer during
the formation of the Company.
- Dehua Pei, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief
Scientific Advisor and Jason Ruth, Senior Associate, 5AM Ventures will serve as
Board Observers.
About Entrada Therapeutics
Entrada Therapeutics’ mission is to treat devastating diseases through the intracellular delivery of biologics. Entrada’s technology enables the efficient intracellular delivery of proteins, peptides and nucleic acids, thus allowing for the development of programs across several intracellular target classes. The Company’s novel approach addresses current challenges associated with both large and small molecule therapeutics and represents a fundamental advancement in the delivery of molecules into the cytosol. For more information, please visit www.entradatx.com.
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Company
Contact:
Cecilia Sun
Entrada Therapeutics
[email protected]
Media
Contact:
Maggie Beller
Russo Partners, LLC
(646) 942-5631
[email protected]
