California, USA-based precision medicine company advancing a CRISPR-powered personalized functional genomics platform to transform the future of targeted cancer treatment, Function Oncology, raised USD 28 million in Series A. The round took place on April 12, 2023. a16z and Section 32 led the financing for the company. Meanwhile, Casdin Capital and Alexandria Venture Investments joined in the financing.
What the company’s official has to add
Srinath Sampath, M.D., PhD, MPhil, co-founder and chief executive officer of Function Oncology, said, “Conventional next-generation sequencing approaches have marked a revolution in cancer diagnostics and treatment, but time has proven that this is only effective for a small subset of drugs and targets, leaving the majority of patients without meaningful therapeutic options. We believe that the next level of precision oncology will be to move beyond gene sequence to gene function. Our CRISPR-powered personalized functional genomics platform allows, for the first time, efficient, scalable and individualized assessment of drug target vulnerabilities directly in patient tumour samples. Moving towards ground state truth on target dependence allows precision medicine beyond what sequencing can access. It also allows us to identify the non-mutated “hidden” drug targets to power the next wave of transformative drug development.”
What the investors have to add
In addition, Steve Kafka, PhD, managing partner at Section 32, said, “This is a powerful new platform that has potential for both diagnostic and therapeutic clinical applications. These applications range from accelerating target identification and validation to producing unprecedented insights to enrol the right patients in clinical trials, to dramatically expanding the impact of existing drugs and surfacing novel cancer targets for drug development. This is a remarkable foundation upon which to create a true, next-generation precision medicine company.”
What the Andreessen Horowitz official has to say
Vineeta Agarwala, MD, PhD, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, further said, “The field of precision oncology continues to undergo a remarkable, technology-driven transformation. Function Oncology’s CRISPR-based platform has the potential to further accelerate this entire field beyond the limitations of conventional genomics and unlock a potentially transformative new era of cancer treatment and drug development.”
About the company
Srinath Sampath, Srihari Sampath, and Christian Schmedt launched the company. Function Oncology aims to identify optimal therapeutic opportunities for patients. It seeks to further advance the next generation of targeted cancer therapies. The company intends to move beyond measuring gene sequence to measuring gene function.
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