Image: © luchschenF/Stock.adobe.com
The Dublin start-up raised $25m in a Series C round and secured $35m from Pfizer to develop an advanced breast cancer treatment.
Irish biopharma company Carrick Therapeutics has raised $25m in Series C investment to find new treatment approaches for patients with cancer.
The funding coincides with a separate investment of $35m from pharma giant Pfizer to develop a treatment for advanced breast cancer. This brings the total investment raised to $60m.
Based at NovaUCD in Dublin, Carrick Therapeutics is an oncology-focused biopharma start-up aiming to discover and develop highly differentiated therapies.
The Series C funding was supported by existing investors, including ARCH Venture Partners, Rosetta Capital, Lightstone Ventures, Google Ventures, Cambridge Innovation Capital and Evotec.
The fresh investment will be used to fund ongoing and future clinical trials of samuraciclib, a novel oral treatment for patients with advanced breast cancer. It will also be used for ongoing development of other potential treatment innovations.
“This financing will enable us to accelerate development of our CDK7 and CDK12/13 inhibitors to potentially bring new treatment approaches to patients battling cancer,” said Tim Pearson, CEO of Carrick Therapeutics.
“[The Pfizer investment] further strengthens our conviction in the potential of samuraciclib to be a first and best-in-class treatment for patients with advanced breast cancer.”
Carrick will maintain full economic ownership and control of samuraciclib and the rest of its pipeline.
“Carrick has established a talented team with extensive drug development experience and a broad and highly differentiated oncology pipeline,” said Steven Gillis, managing director at ARCH Venture Partners.
“We are excited to support Carrick as they work towards bringing better therapeutic options to patients living with advanced breast cancer, as well as other malignancies.”
Chris Boshoff, chief development officer of oncology and rare diseases at Pfizer, added that samuraciclib has “the potential to play a meaningful role” in the treatment of advanced breast cancer.
“Our hope is that Pfizer’s development capabilities and expertise in breast cancer and next-generation cyclin-dependent kinases, combined with the innovation represented by samuraciclib, will help accelerate the advancement of this potential breakthrough for patients.”
10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.
