Posts
The South San Francisco start-up Alios BioPharma has rounded up commitments on $24 million in venture capital and plans to use the funds to start advancing its preclinical programs toward proof-of-concept. Novo Ventures and Novartis Ventures led the round--which will be delivered in tranches, starting with $8.4 million--with participation from the Roche Venture Fund.
"The lead program is a hyperglycosylated Interferon molecule," CEO Lawrence Blatt, PhD, tells FierceBiotech, which has the potential to become a best-in-class therapy for hepatitis C. The biotech company is working on an advance that it hopes will allow for weekly dosing without any loss of biologic potency. Alios also licensed in a program from the Cleveland Clinic that focuses on blocking viral replication and stimulating production of Interferon.
A veteran CSO from InterMune, Blatt first got Alios started with angel financing in 2006 and has since grown the company to 11 workers. He now plans to add a few bench scientists to the payroll and is quick to acknowledge that he couldn't have picked a better time to recruit new talent.
"There have been a lot of layoffs in the Bay Area, he adds, "and there's a wealth of fantastic candidates."
Registration of your site
