CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Magenta Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing therapies to improve and expand the use of curative stem cell transplantation for more patients, today announced rapid progress in advancing the company’s strategic vision, including the completion of a $50 million Series B financing; in-licensing a clinical-stage program from Novartis to support the use of stem cell transplantation in a variety of disease settings; and a strategic partnership with Be The Match BioTherapiesSM, an organization offering solutions for delivering autologous and allogeneic cellular therapies.
The financing announced today is intended to fuel development of innovative product candidates across multiple aspects of transplantation medicine, including more precise preparation of patients, stem cell harvesting and stem cell expansion. The Series B round, which was oversubscribed, was led by GV (formerly Google Ventures), with participation from all existing investors, including Atlas Venture, Third Rock Ventures, Partners Innovation Fund and Access Industries. The financing also included Casdin Capital and other crossover investors, as well as Be The Match BioTherapies, a subsidiary of National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP)/Be The Match®, the world’s leading organization focused on saving lives through bone marrow and umbilical cord blood transplantation.
“Magenta has quickly established itself as a nexus of innovation in stem cell science, catalyzing interest in this area of medicine with the recognition that improvements will have profound impact on patients,” said Jason Gardner, D. Phil., chief executive officer, president and cofounder of Magenta Therapeutics. “We aspire to accelerate products that could unleash the potential of transplantation to more patients, including those with autoimmune diseases, genetic blood disorders and cancer. The resounding interest in Magenta from such a high-quality set of investors is a testament to our solid progress since launch, including building a world-class team and a robust pipeline, and generating promising early data.”
MGTA-456: Investigational Product Addressing Significant Unmet Need in Stem Cell Transplant
The clinical-stage program in-licensed by Magenta from Novartis, MGTA-456 (formerly HSC835), aims to expand the number of cord blood stem cells used in transplants to achieve superior clinical outcomes compared to standard transplant procedures, and to enable more patients to benefit from a transplant. Under this agreement, Magenta gains rights to use MGTA-456 in selected applications and will develop MGTA-456 in multiple diseases, including immune and blood diseases.
Early results published in Science1 demonstrated the ability of MGTA-456 to significantly increase the number of umbilical cord blood stem cells. Clinical results reported in Cell Stem Cell2 demonstrated that this approach yielded an increased expansion of stem cells.
John E. Wagner, M.D., executive medical director of the Bone Marrow Transplantation Program at the University of Minnesota and the study’s lead author, stated: “MGTA-456 markedly shortens time to recovery, addressing one of the most significant challenges in stem cell transplantation today. MGTA-456 achieved a remarkable increase in the number of blood-forming stem cells, greater than that observed by all other methods that have been tested to date. This product has the potential to further improve cord blood transplant outcomes.”
Be The Match BioTherapies Strategic Partnership Agreement
Magenta and Be The Match BioTherapies also announced today that in addition to the equity investment, the two organizations have initiated a collaboration to support their shared goals of improving transplant medicine. Magenta and Be The Match BioTherapies will explore opportunities to work together across all of Magenta’s research efforts, from discovery through clinical development. Under this agreement, Magenta may leverage Be The Match BioTherapies’ capabilities, including its cell therapy delivery platform, industry relationships, clinical trial design and management, and patient outcomes data derived from the NMDP/Be The Match, which operates the largest and most diverse marrow registry in the world. NMDP/Be The Match has a network of more than 486 organizations that support marrow transplant worldwide, including 178 transplant centers in the United States and more than 45 international donor centers and cooperative registries.
“We are proud to have made our first equity investment as an organization in Magenta Therapeutics, and we share a vision to improve and advance the use of curative stem cell transplantation for patients with a wide range of diseases,” said Amy Ronneberg, president of Be The Match Biotherapies.
About Magenta Therapeutics
Magenta Therapeutics is a biotechnology company harnessing the power of stem cell science to revolutionize stem cell transplantation for patients with immune- and blood-based diseases. By creating a platform focused on critical areas of transplant medicine, Magenta Therapeutics is pioneering an integrated, but modular approach to stem cell therapies to create patient benefits. Founded by internationally recognized leaders in stem cell transplant medicine, Magenta Therapeutics was launched in 2016 by Third Rock Ventures and Atlas Venture and is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, please visit www.magentatx.com.
About Third Rock Ventures
Third Rock Ventures is a leading healthcare venture firm focused on investing and launching companies that make a difference in people’s lives. The Third Rock team has a unique vision for ideating and building transformative healthcare companies. Working closely with our strategic partners and entrepreneurs, Third Rock has an extensive track record for managing the value creation path to deliver exceptional performance. For more information, please visit the firm’s website at www.thirdrockventures.com.
About Atlas Venture
Atlas Venture is a leading biotech venture capital firm. With the goal of doing well by doing good, we have been building breakthrough biotech startups since 1993. We work side by side with exceptional scientists and entrepreneurs to translate high impact science into medicines for patients. Our seed-led venture creation strategy rigorously selects and focuses investment on the most compelling opportunities to build scalable businesses and realize value. For more information, please visit www.atlasventure.com.
About GV
GV provides venture capital funding to bold new companies. In the fields of life science, healthcare, artificial intelligence, robotics, transportation, cyber security, and agriculture, GV's companies aim to improve lives and change industries. GV's team of world-class engineers, designers, physicians, scientists, marketers, and investors work together to provide these startups exceptional support on the road to success.
Launched as Google Ventures in 2009, GV is the venture capital arm of Alphabet, Inc. GV helps startups interface with Google, providing unique access to the world’s best technology and talent. GV has $2.4 billion under management and is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices in San Francisco, Boston, New York, and London. Launched as Google Ventures in 2009, GV is the venture capital arm of Alphabet, Inc. For more information, please visit www.gv.com.
About Be The Match BioTherapies
Be The Match BioTherapies partners with organizations pursuing new
life-saving treatments in cellular therapy. Built on the foundation
established over the last 30 years by the NMDP/Be
The Match, the organization has unparalleled experience in
personalized patient management with a single point of contact, cell
sourcing and collection, cell therapy delivery platform, immunogenetics
and bioinformatics, research and regulatory compliance. By leveraging
proven capabilities and established relationships, Be The Match
BioTherapies can bring customizable solutions to organizations in every
stage of cellular therapy development—from discovery through
commercialization. Discover how Be The Match BioTherapies can assist
your company at BeTheMatchBioTherapies.com.
For
more information on today’s announcement, see Jason Gardner’s post in
the “Life Sci VC” blog: https://lifescivc.com/2017/05/building-a-biote…th-a-triple-play/.
1 Science. 2010
Sep 10;329(5997):1345-8.
2 Cell
Stem Cell. 2016 Jan 7;18(1):144-55.
