Arda Therapeutics, a company focusing on targeted cell depletion therapies for chronic diseases, completed a successful $43 million Series A financing round led by Andreessen Horowitz, already an investor in the firm, in addition to Two Sigma Ventures, RV Invest, Eli Lilly and Company, GV, Biovision Ventures, Valhalla Ventures, Indicator Ventures, Alumni Ventures, LifeLink Ventures, Mana Ventures, Gaingels and ExitFund.
Instead of using the traditional approach to medicine, which entails using small-molecule drugs to prevent or alleviate symptoms of a disease by activating or inhibiting a specific genetic pathway, Arda Therapeutics is investigating an alternative approach by eliminating the cells that drive the disease rather than modulating the activity of the proteins they produce.
The company relies on a technology which has been on the market for some time – Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell therapy, or CAR-T Cell Therapy for short. This therapy targets a cell population in the patient’s body by introducing genetically-modified T-cells into the patient’s body, which are programmed to attack cells that display a specific antigen on their cellular membrane. This therapy can therefore be used to target many different molecular targets and has already been regulated to treat leukemia and various kinds of cancer.
Arda is developing a sophisticated single-cell-based discovery engine which identifies the cell population responsible for a disease or other medical condition and creates a profile of the proteins on the surface of the cellular membrane. This approach allows for the development of a CAR-T biologics product which is tailored to the needs of individual patients and selectively eliminates the targeted cell population with unerring accuracy while completely ignoring healthy tissue cells. This ensures greater efficacy and fewer side effects. Arda’s platform will focus on pulmonary fibrosis, as well as autoimmune and metabolic disorders.
Source: Arda Therapeutics Secures $43M Series A Financing to Advance Targeted Cell Depletion Therapies
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241009367860/en/Arda-Therapeutics-Secures-43M-Series-A-Financing-to-Advance-Targeted-Cell-Depletion-Therapies