Accent Therapeutics has raised a $75 million Series C round, the company announced Tuesday in a sign of continued investor interest in chemical drugs that target RNA molecules.
Headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts, Accent is one of several biotechnology startups to emerge in recent years with plans to develop pills that modify RNA, the molecular blueprints for proteins.
The approach could help them reach disease targets previously thought to be “undruggable.” Accent and its peers have raised sizable funds and formed partnerships with larger drugmakers interested in their potential.
Accent is targeting enzymes that, in turn, modify RNA molecules. The company aims to develop precision cancer therapies, in some cases going after targets that haven’t been successfully drugged before, while in others looking to surpass existing drugs.
One of its lead programs targets an RNA enzyme called DHX9, which is implicated in a variety of tumor types. Another, a so-called KIF18A inhibitor, has potential to treat multiple cancers, among them ovarian and triple-negative breast tumors. The company publicly disclosed two other medicines in preclinical testing.
Accent’s Series C round was supported by Bristol Myers Squibb and the venture arm of Johnson & Johnson, both of which joined in as new investors. The financing was led by Mirae Asset Capital Life Science, a U.S.-based venture fund that South Korean financial services firm Mirae Asset Financial Group launched earlier this month.
"Accent’s focus on targeting cancer cell vulnerabilities in a specific and robust way really stood out as we were evaluating companies for our first investment,” said Mirae managing director Naveen Krishnan, in a statement.
The startup expects to start its first clinical tests in early 2025, said CEO Shakti Narayan, in an email. He declined to specify how long of a financial runway the company has, or whether the company is considering an initial public offering.
“We raised the financing we needed to accomplish key clinical milestones,” Narayan said in an email. “We will continue to evaluate our path forward based on the progress of our programs and on how the markets evolve, with the objectives of efficiently advancing our pipeline while keeping patients, employees and our investors top of mind.”
Accent has now raised more than $170 million in venture funding since launching in 2018. It also got $55 million upfront in a 2020 cancer-focused deal with AstraZeneca.
