AllRock Bio Secures $50 Million Series A to Advance First-in-Class Pan-ROCK Inhibitor for Pulmonary Hypertension
核心洞察
AllRock Bio (搜索) raised $50 million in Series A funding co-led by Versant Ventures (搜索) and Westlake BioPartners (搜索) to advance ROC-101 (搜索), a first-in-class oral pan-ROCK inhibitor exclusively licensed from Sanofi.
ROC-101 (搜索) targets pulmonary arterial hypertension (搜索) and pulmonary hypertension with interstitial lung disease (搜索), conditions with five-year survival rates of 57% and 38% respectively.
Phase 1 data demonstrated favorable safety and tolerability with no associated hypotension, validating the pan-ROCK inhibition approach for addressing fundamental disease drivers.
AllRock Bio (搜索) Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on cardiopulmonary and fibrotic diseases, announced a $50 million Series A funding round co-led by Versant Ventures (搜索) and Westlake BioPartners (搜索). The proceeds will advance the company's lead molecule, ROC-101 (搜索), which AllRock exclusively licensed from Sanofi, into Phase 2 clinical development.
ROC-101 (搜索) represents a first-in-class, oral pan-rho-associated protein kinase (搜索) (ROCK) inhibitor designed to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (搜索) (PAH) and pulmonary hypertension with interstitial lung disease (搜索) (ILD-PH). These life-threatening conditions present significant unmet medical needs, with five-year survival rates of 57% and 38%, respectively, and very limited disease-modifying treatments available for patients.
Targeting Fundamental Disease Mechanisms
The therapeutic approach addresses inflammatory, proliferative, and fibrotic disease-associated remodeling mediated by both ROCK2 (搜索) and ROCK1 (搜索). "Today's launch highlights the value of our pan-ROCK inhibitor approach, which addresses the fundamental drivers, not just the symptoms, of cardiopulmonary diseases, beginning with PAH and ILD-PH," said Catherine Pearce, DHSc, MBA, AllRock CEO and co-founder. "In identifying this asset, we listened to KOLs and clinicians who emphasized the importance of developing a therapy that blocks the non-redundant roles of both ROCK1 and ROCK2."
ROC-101 (搜索)'s mechanism of action is complementary to existing approved and investigational therapies in the pulmonary hypertension space. Despite 16 approved drugs—including four vasodilator classes—there continues to exist an unmet need for disease-modifying treatments in the current PAH landscape.
Promising Phase 1 Results
Topline data from the ROC-101 (搜索) Phase 1 study demonstrate favorable safety and tolerability, with no associated hypotension. "The strong safety profile that ROC-101 has demonstrated in Phase 1 validates the transformative potential of pan-ROCK inhibition," said Alicia Levey, PhD, Venture Partner at Versant Ventures (搜索) and AllRock board member. "We look forward to AllRock's near-term readouts for ROC-101 as well as progress from its expanding pipeline."
The company plans to present its Phase 1 data at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress, held September 27-October 1 in Amsterdam, in a poster entitled, "Results from a phase 1, randomized, double-blind, single and multiple ascending oral dose study characterizing the PK, safety, and target engagement of the Rho kinase 1 and 2 inhibitor ROC-101 (搜索) in healthy volunteers."
Clinical Development Strategy
AllRock's Phase 2a ROCSTAR clinical trial will evaluate ROC-101 (搜索) in combination with standard of care in PAH and ILD-PH patients and is expected to start in late 2025. The trial design reflects the complementary nature of ROC-101's mechanism to existing therapies in the pulmonary hypertension treatment landscape.
Experienced Leadership Team
The company's leadership comprises industry veterans from biotech and pharma with a track record of success in building and leading companies. The team includes executives from CinCor Pharma (搜索), which was acquired by AstraZeneca in 2023 for up to $1.8 billion.
Catherine Pearce brings 25+ years of experience across pharma and biotech company formation, most notably for creating and leading the clinical-stage function of CinCor Pharma (搜索) from its formation to its acquisition. Justin Thompson, CBO and Co-Founder, has 20+ years of experience in business development and strategic investments within life sciences and led business development efforts at CinCor Pharma.
Bill Marshall, MD, CMO, is a clinician-scientist with 35+ years of academic, clinical, and drug development experience, highlighted by his role as VP, Medical, at CinCor. Kate Steiner, B Med Sci, MBBS, VP Medical, brings 25+ years of academic, clinical, and drug development experience, most recently as Medical Director at Keros Therapeutics, leading the Phase 2 trial of an activin receptor type II B (搜索) ligand trap to treat pulmonary artery hypertension.
Investor Confidence
"We are pleased to work with this team again in the formation of AllRock following our past successful collaboration on CinCor and bringing baxdrostat to the clinic," said David Allison, PhD, Managing Director at Westlake BioPartners (搜索). "We are confident that this team is poised to advance a truly meaningful therapeutic option to patients living with debilitating disease."
AllRock was founded by JucaBio (搜索), a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company built on the hub-and-spoke model that acquires high-quality, differentiated assets and builds agile NewCos that execute focused drug development.