CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Repare Therapeutics, a precision oncology company targeting specific vulnerabilities of tumors in genetically defined patient populations, announced today the completion of a US$82.5 million Series B financing. Cowen Healthcare Investments led the financing and was joined by new investors OrbiMed, Redmile, BVF Partners L.P. and Logos Capital. Founding investor Versant Ventures and existing investors MPM Capital, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, and BDC Capital all participated.
Including today’s Series B financing and the June 2017 Series A round co-led by Versant and MPM, Repare has now secured over US$140 million in equity and partner capital.
“We are pleased to include this exceptional group of new investors along with our strong existing group of shareholders to continue building Repare’s leading position in synthetic lethality and DNA damage repair precision oncology treatments,” said Lloyd M. Segal, President and Chief Executive Officer of Repare.
The core concept of synthetic lethality is that while tumors can tolerate individual defects in DNA, there are combinations of defects that create unique vulnerabilities in cancer cells which, when identified, present opportunities for precisely targeted therapeutics. Repare will use the proceeds of this financing to advance RP-3500, an ATR inhibitor, into the clinic in 2020. Repare will also advance an additional program, “Manchester”, an undisclosed CCNE1 synthetic lethal targeted therapy, in the subsequent two to three quarters, and will continue to progress its deep pipeline of synthetic lethal, DNA damage repair programs, including its Polθ program, which was recently partnered with ONO Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in Japan and selected territories in Asia.
In connection with this investment, Kevin Raidy, Managing Partner, Cowen Healthcare Investments, and David Bonita, M.D., Partner, OrbiMed, will join Repare’s Board of Directors.
“We are confident in Repare’s exceptional management team and are excited by the potential of the company’s lead asset and innovative pipeline to advance treatments for targeted patient populations in multiple cancer indications,” said Mr. Raidy.
“We feel that Repare is differentiated and highly enabled. Synthetic lethality and DNA damage repair remain critical domains for novel precision oncology and we believe that Repare has established itself as the leader in this field,” noted Dr. Bonita.
About Repare Therapeutics
Repare Therapeutics is pioneering synthetic lethality to develop novel therapeutics that target specific vulnerabilities of tumors in genetically defined patient populations. The company’s initial focus is on novel targeted therapies in cancer types harboring defective DNA-damage response (DDR)- or genome instability-related functions. Repare’s SNIPRx™ platform combines a proprietary, high throughput, CRISPR‐enabled gene editing target discovery technology with high‐resolution protein crystallography, computational biology, medicinal chemistry and clinical informatics to rapidly generate small molecules for clinical investigation. For additional information, please visit www.reparerx.com.
