REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ambys Medicines, a company founded to capitalize on advances in liver biology and regenerative medicines to develop therapies for serious liver diseases, launched today with a $60 million Series A financing funded by Third Rock Ventures and Takeda. As part of the launch, Ambys also announced today a strategic partnership with Takeda bringing total committed funding at launch to $140 million.
Ambys Medicines is pursuing multiple strategies to develop innovative new medicines for patients suffering from chronic liver diseases, including cell therapy for hepatocyte transplantation, gene therapy for liver regeneration, and drug therapy to replace lost protein function.
“With the launch of Ambys, we are seizing the opportunity to radically reshape the way in which serious liver diseases are treated,” said Jeffrey Tong, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Ambys Medicines and venture partner with Third Rock Ventures. “Major advances in the fields of gene and cell therapy and gain-of-function drug therapies, coupled with deeper understanding of liver biology, create the potential to develop drug therapies that can now restore or replace natural liver function.”
The Ambys team includes recognized leaders in regenerative medicine, drug discovery, translational medicine and company-building. Company leaders include Jeffrey Tong, Ph.D., interim Chief Executive Officer; Michael Holmes, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer; Jeffrey Finer, M.D., Ph.D., interim Chief Technology Officer; Glenn Pierce, M.D., Ph.D., interim Chief Medical Officer; and Stanley Hollenbach, Senior Vice President of Pharmacology.
Scientific co-founders of Ambys include world-renowned experts in liver disease, cell and gene therapy, and small molecules that can replace protein function:
- Martin Burke, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Markus Grompe, M.D. is the Ray Hickey Professor and Director of the Papé Family Pediatric Research Institute at Oregon Health & Science University, and the Director of the Oregon Stem Cell Center
- Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, Ph.D. is Professor and Roger Guillemin Chair of the Gene Expression Laboratories at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies
- Holger Willenbring, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco
“By assembling a group of world-renowned scientific co-founders and experienced company leadership, Ambys is tapping into leading-edge approaches to develop therapeutics for liver disease by restoring or replacing missing function,” said Charles Homcy, M.D., partner at Third Rock and board member of Ambys.
“This is a unique confluence in time to bring together multiple regenerative approaches to tackle very serious unmet needs remaining in chronic liver disease today,” said Asit Parikh, M.D., Ph.D., Head, Gastroenterology Therapeutic Area Unit at Takeda and board member of Ambys. “We are excited to be joining Ambys at the launch of this exciting company.”
About Third Rock Ventures
Third Rock Ventures is a leading healthcare venture firm focused on disruptive areas of science and medicine to discover, launch and build companies that make a dramatic difference in people’s lives. By combining our team’s scientific vision, strategic leadership, operational expertise and innovative deal-making capabilities, we nurture bold ideas that translate into successful business enterprises. Recognizing that the best way to create value for our investors is to create value for patients, our companies are built on a solid foundation of science, medicine, people and business strategy.
