Cambridge-based Create Medicines announced Thursday it has raised another $122 million to bolster its cell therapy capabilities across cancers and autoimmune conditions.
The Series B financing round was co-led by existing investors Arch Venture Partners, Newpath Partners and Hatteras Venture Partners. It also included participation from Alexandria Venture Investments and other members of the company’s investor syndicate.
Create is developing cell therapies that reprogram immune cells inside the body, otherwise known as “in vivo.” The company uses a messenger RNA-lipid nanoparticle platform, which delivers mRNA into the body and directs T cells, NK cells and myeloid cells to reprogram themselves, offering a “one-day manufacturing process” that traditional cell therapies cannot provide.
The company originally launched as Myeloid Therapeutics in 2021 to reflect its former pipeline of CAR-T therapies directed at a specific type of immune cell known as myeloid cells. It was co-founded by cell therapy pioneers Ronald Vale, an entrepreneur and co-founder of the biotechnology company Cytokinetics, and Siddhartha Mukherjee, a biologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
Myeloid eventually expanded its lens to include experimental RNA-based in vivo CAR-T therapeutics, and rebranded as Create Medicines last year.
The startup has dosed more than 50 patients across its programs to date, and said it is the largest clinical dataset in the field.
Last month, Create dosed its first patient in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial for a candidate dubbed MT-304, a CAR therapy targeting the HER2 protein expressed in breast cancer that Create says triggers “multiple arms of the immune system to attack at the same time.” The trial is studying the experimental therapy in people with HER2-positive breast cancer as well as other HER2-positive solid tumors, including gastric cancer.
It’s testing other experimental treatments targeting CD19 and BCMA, two proteins that are the focus of already approved CAR-T medicines, for use against autoimmune conditions.
Alongside the financing, Create disclosed that biotech veteran Ron Philip has come on board as an executive chairman.
“I'm excited to join Create at this pivotal moment in the company's evolution,” Philip said in a statement. “Create has established meaningful in vivo clinical proof points and built a differentiated immune programming platform with the potential to redefine how engineered immune therapies are developed and delivered.”
Brian Cuneo, senior partner at Arch Venture Partners, and Tom Thomas, senior associate of Newpath Partners, have also joined the Create’s board of directors.
