Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Eli Lilly and other big pharmas are backing this San Diego biotech with $175M

A San Diego biotech is working on therapies that could tackle life-altering conditions, like autoimmune diseases and cancer, by modifying cells. But instead of engineering cells in a lab, they're doing it inside your body.

Thanks to that novel approach and the support of some of the biggest names in the pharmaceutical industry, Capstan Therapeutics has netted $175 million in a fundraising round, despite a sluggish venture capital environment for startups. La Jolla-based Capstan, which made the announcement Wednesday, exceeded its fundraising goal of $125 million in a Series B round led by RA Capital Management.

The firm explained that it is employing the cutting-edge messenger-RNA technology that made the COVID-19 vaccine possible and marrying it with the science behind cell therapy.

"If it weren't for cell therapy, Capstan wouldn't exist. If it weren't for the COVID-19 vaccine, Capstan wouldn't exist. It's almost like the two had a baby and they created Capstan," said Laura Shawver, the company's president and CEO.

She said the company is working on a cheaper and less complex multi-step process for getting essential therapies to more patients.

Beyond the major funding, Capstan boasts backing from more than a handful of big pharma companies such as Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JJDC), Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Co., Leaps by Bayer, Novartis Venture Fund and Pfizer Ventures.

Capstan was founded in 2021 and has raised $340 million to date. The scientific research behind Capstan came out of the University of Pennsylvania.

Its founders are pioneers of CAR-T cell technology, which has led to revolutionary therapies that modify immune system cells, or T-cells, in a lab to help a patient's body target and destroy disease causing cells, like cancer.

Capstan is developing therapies that modulate unhealthy cells inside the body — rather than editing the cells outside of the body — through RNA delivery methods.

Shawver explained that while CAR-T cell therapies have proven effective, they are not widely accessible to most patients and they are costly. It requires the extraction of samples from patients, external manufacturing, and then the patients have to undergo chemotherapy to prepare their bodies for the integration of the cell therapy.

...continued

swipe to next page