Series D Funding Brings Radiopharmaceutical Company RayzeBio to $418 million in Total

On September 13, RayzeBio announced a $160 million Series D financing co-led by Viking Global Investors, Sofinnova Investments, and Wellington Management. Based in San Diego, California, the relatively new radiopharmaceutical company has raised $418 million since beginning operations in August 2020.

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$418 million Funding for a Radiopharmaceuticals

Radiopharmaceuticals are the foundation of RayzeBio. Founded in August 2020 by Aron Knickerbocker and Deborah Charych, Ph. D., the company began the development of a pipeline of radiopharmaceuticals.

For decades, doctors treated cancer paints with radiation treatment administered via external delivery of radiation beams. Radiopharmaceuticals takes that idea but applies it to a systematic application of radiation directly targeted at tumors.

Big players in the industry are taking note of radiopharmaceuticals. For example, Novartis developed PLUVICTO for the treatment of Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer.

RayzeBio’s lead drug asset is RYZ101. RYZ101 delivers a highly potent radioisotope, Actinium-225, to tumors expressing the somatostatin receptor type 2. A Phase 1b clinical trial is currently evaluating the safety of the radiopharmaceutical. The development of this drug is the result of four funding rounds that totaled $418 million. 

History of Funding Rounds

A couple of months after beginning operations, RayzeBio closed its Series A funding round with $45 million in October 2020. At the time, RayzeBio focused its pipeline on target selection of solid tumors, binder selection of macrocyclic peptide mimetics, and isotope selection of Actinium-225 for its potential cell killing ability.

A few months later, in December 2020, RayzeBio more than doubled the funding of their first funding round by raising $105 million in their Series B round. RayzeBio used the funds to expand their headquarters and advance multiple programs in parallel.

Series C saw a similar amount raised in June 2021 at around $108 million. At the time, Ken Song, M.D., president and CEO of RayzeBio, said, “The interest and confidence from our exceptional group of investors that has funded the company enables us to fully invest in our plans to be the leader in targeted radiopharmaceuticals for a multitude of cancer types.”

The compilation of their Series D funding round saw its highest amount raised since its inception at around $160 million. Since the beginning of their funding, RayzeBio advanced their lead drug candidate, RYZ101, into a Phase 1b clinical trial. In addition, the company completed more than 200 in vivo studies and entered into a licensing agreement with Ablaze Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of radiopharmaceuticals for China.

Irina Margine, Ph.D., Principal at one of RayzeBio’s lead investors, Wellington Management, said, “We continue to follow RayzeBio’s progress and the strength and pace of their execution abilities. We believe that targeted radiopharmaceuticals have significant potential as the next cancer treatment modality, and RayzeBio is emerging as an industry leader.”

Going forward, the clinical trial for RYZ101 will meet its primary completion by July 2025. However, RayzeBio anticipates that a Phase 3 Clinical trial for the targeted radiopharmaceutical therapy could begin as soon as 2023. 

Author

Max Heirich