Cellarity Raises $123 Million in Series B Funding to Pioneer a New Approach to Drug Discovery, Treating Disease at the Level of the Cell as Opposed to a Single Molecular Target

25 February, 2021

Cambridge, MA – February 25, 2021Cellarity, a life sciences company founded by Flagship Pioneering to develop a new method of drug discovery targeting the cell, announced today that it raised $123 million in Series B financing. The round included contributions from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, The Baupost Group, Banque Pictet on behalf of their clients and eight other investors alongside Flagship Pioneering.

Founded in 2017 within Flagship Labs, Cellarity’s new approach to drug discovery is based on the computational modeling of cell behavior, leading to a more complete understanding of system and network biology to uncover cell-behavior-targeted medicines for a wide variety of diseases.

Cellarity’s medicines are developed to address disease at the level of the cell and are not aimed at single molecular targets, the approach pursued in much of traditional drug discovery. The successful financing round validates the strength of Cellarity’s science and its potential to redefine drug discovery through its cell-centric approach.

“All diseases stem from a disorder at the cellular level, but until now most drug discovery efforts have relied upon single molecular targets that overlook the potent networked relationships of biology,” said Fabrice Chouraqui, CEO of Cellarity and a CEO-Partner at Flagship Pioneering. “By working at the level of the entire cell, Cellarity’s drug discovery platform harnesses the complexity of human biology to uncover breakthrough treatments in a wide range of disease areas.”

Cellarity is generating unprecedented biological insights by combining its unique expertise in network biology, high-resolution data, and machine learning. The result is a new understanding of the cell’s trajectory from health to disease, and how cells relate to one another in tissues. Because the cell and its network of transcripts and proteins offer a more complete view of the complexity of human biology than any individual molecular target, Cellarity’s approach allows for more efficient drug discovery and is designed to drive higher rates of clinical success. Already, the company has seven drug discovery programs underway in diverse therapeutic areas that range from metabolic disease to immuno-oncology.

“Cellarity’s cell-centric platform has the potential to engineer a shift in how the world approaches the discovery of medicine,” said Noubar Afeyan, CEO of Flagship Pioneering and Co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Cellarity. “It is another example of Flagship Pioneering’s relentless efforts to push the boundaries of the life sciences to uncover breakthrough technologies and identify innovative treatments that will change the lives of patients.”

About Cellarity
Cellarity’s mission is to bring breakthrough medicines to patients by completely redefining the way drugs are discovered. Founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2017, Cellarity is designing medicines against the cell as opposed to a single molecular target. The company has developed a unique combination of expertise across system and network biology, high-resolution data, and machine learning to unlock treatments in a large number of therapeutic areas.

About Flagship Pioneering
Flagship Pioneering conceives, creates, resources, and develops first-in-category life sciences companies to transform human health and sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, the firm has, through its Flagship Labs unit, applied its unique hypothesis-driven innovation process to originate and foster more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in over $50B in aggregate value. To date, Flagship has deployed over $2.2B in capital toward the founding and growth of its pioneering companies alongside more than $18B of follow-on investments from other institutions. The current Flagship ecosystem comprises 41 transformative companies, including Axcella Health (NASDAQ: AXLA), Codiak Biosciences (NASDAQ:CDAK), Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI), Evelo Biosciences (NASDAQ: EVLO), Foghorn Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FHTX), Indigo Ag, Kaleido Biosciences (NASDAQ: KLDO), Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Rubius Therapeutics (NASDAQ: RUBY), Sana Biotechnology (NASDAQ: SANA), Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MCRB), and Sigilon Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SGTX).

Press Contact
Kent Holland
(917) 561-9684
cellaritymedia@kivvit.com

 

 

Disclaimer

This press release does not constitute an offer of interests in any Ahren fund. Any offer of an Ahren fund will be made through separate offering documents and in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. This press release may contain forward looking statements. These statements include, but are not limited to, discussions related to Ahren’s expectations regarding the performance of its business, its liquidity and capital resources and the other statements contained herein. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. When used in this press release, the words “believe,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. These statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Ahren gives no undertaking or assumes any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

Ahren believes that selected case studies should be considered as a reflection of Ahren’s investment process, and references to these particular portfolio companies should not be considered as recommendations of any particular security, investment or portfolio company. The information provided about these portfolio companies is intended to be illustrative, and is not intended to be used as an indication of the current or future performance of the portfolio companies of the fund that Ahren manages.

prev page Ahren Leads $30mn Funding Round in Cambridge Epigenetix next page GSK and Ahren Announce Co-Led Series A Investment in Adrestia

We use cookies to give you the best experience on our website. Learn more.

accept