Antares Therapeutics launched today with $177 million in Series A financing to develop first-in-class precision medicines targeting previously undruggable proteins in cancer and other serious diseases. The biotechnology company represents a spin-out from Scorpion Therapeutics, which recently achieved a major exit by selling its mutant-selective PI3Kα inhibitor program STX-478 to Eli Lilly for up to $2.5 billion in March 2025.
The Series A round was co-led by Omega Funds, Atlas Venture, Lightspeed Venture Partners, BVF Partners, and Cormorant Asset Management, with participation from Vinyanshu Ventures, Abingworth, Invus, Tenmile, Vida Ventures, and Willett Advisors.
Leadership Team and Strategic Foundation
Antares is led by Scorpion's former executive leadership team, headed by Adam Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Executive Officer. The leadership team includes accomplished biotechnology veterans across discovery, development, and clinical operations.
"We took our name from Antares, the brightest star in the Scorpius constellation, and known as 'the heart of the Scorpion,'" said Friedman. "We are building from a strong foundation with a team of experts who are experienced in making new medicines, as well as proprietary drug discovery capabilities and a robust preclinical pipeline fueled by discoveries in drugging previously inaccessible targets."
The company's Board of Directors includes industry veterans with extensive company-building experience, including Sir Menelas Pangalos, Ph.D., formerly Executive Vice President of Biopharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca, and Keith Flaherty, M.D., Director of Clinical Research at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center.
Pipeline and Development Strategy
Antares is advancing a pipeline of small molecule assets originally developed at Scorpion, including programs in precision oncology and other therapeutic areas. The company's portfolio includes programs initiated through Scorpion's 2022 transcription factor collaboration with AstraZeneca, targeting a class of proteins long considered undruggable.
The company plans to advance its first new product candidate into clinical trials in 2026, executing what Friedman described as a "fast-to-clinic strategy to bring medicines to patients in need."
"After years of investment into its proprietary drug discovery capabilities, the team at Antares has made notable progress to unlock the therapeutic potential of targets long seen as important – but undruggable – like the large class of transcription factors," said Sir Menelas Pangalos.
Strategic Partnership and Asset Divestiture
Concurrently with the launch, Antares announced that Pierre Fabre Laboratories has acquired global rights to two clinical-stage, highly selective next-generation mutant EGFR inhibitor programs for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. These programs were previously partnered between Scorpion and Pierre Fabre Laboratories.
Under the agreement terms, Pierre Fabre Laboratories will lead continued clinical development and global commercialization of both programs, while Antares remains eligible to receive regulatory and commercial milestones and tiered royalties.
Scorpion Therapeutics Legacy
Scorpion Therapeutics, founded in 2020, raised a total of $420 million in financing over five years and executed partnerships with multiple pharmaceutical companies. The company generated six development candidates, three of which advanced to clinical testing, before achieving its landmark exit with the Eli Lilly transaction.
"Antares will build on what Scorpion started: combining cutting edge computational and experimental chemistry and biology with laser-focused clinical development," said Keith Flaherty. "This team has demonstrated an ability to break through longstanding limits in medicinal chemistry to advance a pipeline of first-in-class assets, aiming to change the treatment landscape for patients."
Investment Perspective
Otello Stampacchia, Ph.D., Founder and Managing Director at Omega Funds, emphasized the investment rationale: "At Omega, we focus on identifying approaches and working with exceptional teams to deliver impactful products to patients. Antares meets each of these criteria. As one of the founding investors in Scorpion, we have had the opportunity to follow the company's evolution very closely and have been consistently impressed by the breadth of the team's capabilities, as well as their scientific rigor and rapid execution."
