BreezeBio Raises $60M Series B to Advance Precision Genetic Medicine Platform and Type 1 Diabetes Therapy
核心洞察
BreezeBio (搜索), formerly GenEdit (搜索), secured $60 million in Series B funding to advance its proprietary NanoGalaxy delivery platform and internal therapeutic pipeline focused on autoimmune diseases (搜索) and oncology (搜索).
The company's lead candidate BRZ-101 (搜索) is designed to restore immune tolerance in type 1 diabetes (搜索) by delivering autoantigens and tolerogenic co-factors to antigen-presenting cells (搜索), advancing into IND-enabling studies.
BreezeBio (搜索)'s NanoGalaxy platform demonstrates targeted delivery to immune, cardiac, pulmonary, and central nervous systems using specialized polymer nanoparticles that can be dosed multiple times.
BreezeBio (搜索), formerly known as GenEdit (搜索), announced the completion of a $60 million Series B financing round to advance its first internal therapeutic programs toward clinical development and expand its proprietary NanoGalaxy delivery platform. The South San Francisco-based biotechnology company has transitioned from a delivery platform to a therapeutics company, focusing on autoimmune diseases (搜索) and oncology (搜索).
Novel Approach to Type 1 Diabetes Treatment
The company's lead therapeutic candidate, BRZ-101 (搜索), represents a novel immune modulation therapy designed to restore tolerance in type 1 diabetes (搜索). The therapy delivers autoantigens encoded by mRNA (搜索) and tolerogenic co-factors to antigen-presenting cells (搜索), which present the antigens to T cells (搜索) in the context of tolerance. This process induces antigen-specific regulatory T cells (搜索) (Tregs) that block the autoimmune response precisely without affecting the functioning of the immune system.
"BRZ-101 (搜索) effectively delivers into certain immune cells blueprints for antigens and other substances that promote immune tolerance," said CEO Kunwoo "Ryan" Lee. "Those cells then train the body to 'oppress' the destructive inflammation occurring in Type 1 diabetes (搜索)."
In preclinical testing, BRZ-101 (搜索) induced antigen-specific immune tolerance in multiple models of autoimmune disease, including the NOD mouse model of diabetes, and was well tolerated in mice and non-human primates. The company is advancing BRZ-101 into IND-enabling studies this year, representing the final preclinical studies before human testing.
NanoGalaxy Platform Technology
BreezeBio (搜索) has spent a decade developing its delivery technology, referred to as "NanoGalaxy." Founded by CEO Lee and other researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, the company developed specialized polymer nanoparticles able to shepherd genetic instructions to a range of different tissues in the body. The particles can be designed to precisely target specific organs and have the potential to be dosed multiple times.
The NanoGalaxy platform has demonstrated targeted delivery to the immune, cardiac, pulmonary, and central nervous systems based on the physiochemical properties of the polymers that encapsulate the payloads and form the nanoparticles. BreezeBio (搜索) is expanding the platform with ligands conjugated to the nanoparticles for additional tissue and cell specificity, including delivery to T cells (搜索) to enable in vivo CAR-T therapeutic development.
Strategic Partnerships and Validation
The approach has attracted attention from major pharmaceutical companies. BreezeBio (搜索) has signed collaboration deals with Sarepta Therapeutics, Editas Medicine, and Genentech. The company continues to advance its multi-year collaboration and licensing agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. Following the initial milestone achievement and associated payment last year, R&D activities under the collaboration continue to progress.
"BreezeBio (搜索) is solving one of the most significant challenges in gene therapy, targeted delivery, and in doing so is helping define the next generation of genetic medicines," said Vincent Jeong, Managing Director at Yuanta Investment (搜索) and lead investor in the Series B financing.
Funding and Future Development
The Series B financing was co-led by new investors Yuanta Investment (搜索) and DSC Investment (搜索), with participation from SV Investment, Kiwoom Investment, STIC Ventures, Top Harvest Capital, and others. Existing investors, including DAYLI Partners, Pathway Investment, Loftyrock Investment, Korea Investment Partners, WOORI Venture Partners, KDB Silicon Valley, and ACVC Partners also participated.
The funding will support BreezeBio (搜索)'s development of "in vivo" cell therapies, capabilities that have become increasingly popular among biotechnology companies and large pharmaceutical firms seeking new ways to treat autoimmune conditions. Type 1 diabetes (搜索) occurs when the immune system mistakenly destroys insulin-producing beta cells (搜索), and no curative treatment currently exists.
"Now that we can deliver genetic payloads to the right cells with precision, we are building genetic medicines designed to make a real difference for patients," Lee said. "We've completed our transition from a delivery platform to a therapeutics company, and this financing allows us to advance our first internal programs toward the clinic while continuing to expand the reach of NanoGalaxy."