With a $125 million series B financing round, Diagonal Therapeutics has made a vertical move to advance its first-in-class rare disease drug DIAG723.
The Massachusetts-based biotech, which develops disease-modifying clustering antibodies intended to correct dysregulated signaling in severe genetic disorders, expects to begin its first-in-human trial of DIAG723 in the first half of this year in patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT).
The company is also investigating DIAG723 as a treatment to address the underlying cause of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Both HHT and PAH represent multibillion-dollar opportunities, according to Diagonal.
“DIAG723 has exhibited robust disease-modifying activity in several preclinical models of HHT and PAH, demonstrating its ability to prevent and reverse disease pathology and restore normal signaling in cells derived from patients,” Alex Lugovskoy, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Diagonal, said in a release.
The oversubscribed series B funding comes 21 months after Diagonal was launched with a series A round of $128 million led by BVF Partners and Atlas Venture. The new round is headed up by Sanofi Ventures and James Henderson Investors. In conjunction with the financing, Sanofi Ventures Partner Paulina Hill, Ph.D., will join Diagonal’s board.
“Diagonal’s unique clustering antibody approach has the potential to address the root cause of genetic diseases that originate from impaired receptor signaling,” Hill said in a release.
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The new investment will further help advance Diagonal’s earlier pipeline of assets, which are designed to selectively address the underlying causes of disease in conditions spanning hematology, hepatology and nephrology.
The potential of DIAG723 in HHT presents a major opportunity as the disease affects 330,000 people in the U.S. and Europe and currently has no approved therapies beyond agents that control bleeding episodes that characterize the disorder, according to the company.
HHT can lead to chronic anemia, prompting the need for iron infusions or transfusions. Solid organ arteriovenous malformations, another hallmark of HHT, can rupture if left untreated, resulting in life-threatening consequences.
