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Follow us on our journey as we harness the power of radiopharmaceutical technology to take on cancer’s toughest tumors. This journey has brought us to a new name: We are now Mariana Oncology
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Incubated for 18 months by a founding syndicate comprised of Atlas Venture, Access Biotechnology, and RA Capital Management
Fully integrated R&D team that combines ligand research & development, radiopharmaceutical and biotech company building expertise
Cambridge, Mass, December 1, 2021 — Mariana Oncology, Inc. (“Mariana Oncology“), a biotechnology company incubated by Atlas Ventures, Access Biotechnology and RA Capital Management, today announced a Series A investment of $75 million by its founding syndicate to continue the development of its multimodal pipeline of precision radiopharmaceuticals to a broad range of high unmet need solid tumors.
Commenting on the emergence of Mariana Oncology from stealth, Dr. Simon Read, Mariana Oncology Founder and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We envision a world where cancer care is transformed by precision radiopharmaceuticals and a future in which these drugs are increasingly integrated into mainstream treatment.”
He added, “We founded Mariana Oncology to maximize the potential of targeted radiopharmaceuticals for frank tumor ablation, as well as to harness the growing understanding of how radiobiology of targeted therapies can favorably modulate the tumor microenvironment as part of a rational sequence of care. Our team is unique. We have bought together seasoned leaders from pharmaceutical biotech R&D with radiobiology and radiochemistry experts drawn from both industry and academia. Backed by a syndicate of three of the foremost incubating venture firms, we have a pipeline underway and key radionuclide supply agreements for both alpha and beta radionuclide strategies to support our vision.”
Dr. Dan Becker, Partner at Access Biotechnology and a member of Mariana Oncology’s Board of Directors (BoD), said “Radiopharmaceuticals are emerging as potent, safe, and commercially viable options for cancer patients. While late-stage therapeutic radiopharmaceutical pipelines are predominantly focused on metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumors, we see a much broader opportunity to drug a broad spectrum of targets with our high therapeutic index, precision radiopharmaceuticals.”
Dr. Kevin Bitterman, Partner at Atlas Ventures and a member of Mariana Oncology’s BoD said, “All three syndicate members showed an early interest in the radiopharmaceutical space. We have been incubating Mariana Oncology for 18 months with a focus on building a fully integrated company in which both peptidic and non-peptidic ligand R&D, radiochemistry, CMC and clinical translation can occur under one roof.”
Dr. Josh Resnick, Managing Director of RA Capital Management and a member of Mariana Oncology’s BoD, added, “This founding team has the ligand discovery breadth, company formation experience, and radiobiology and CMC experience required to build the leading precision radiopharmaceutical company. We are delighted to co-lead the series A round with Access Biotechnology and Atlas Venture.”
Mariana Oncology Management and Board of Directors
Mariana Oncology’s management includes biotech leaders with broad experience across peptide discovery and development, radiochemistry, and in building top tier clinical stage peptide, radiopharmaceutical, and platform companies, including founder Simon Read, Ph.D. as CEO (former CSO of Ra Pharma, former Entrepreneur in Residence at Atlas Venture), Alonso Ricardo, Ph.D. as CSO (former Chief Technology Officer of Ra Pharma, former Entrepreneur in Residence at RA Capital Management), and Sandy Mong, M.D. as SVP of Business Development and Operations (former VP of Business Development and Operations of BridgeBio Pharma, former Entrepreneur in Residence at Atlas Venture). The broader team includes ligand discovery, radiopharmacology, radiochemistry talent from public and private peptide companies, radiopharmaceutical companies, as well as academia.
Mariana Oncology’s BoD consists of Kevin Bitterman, Ph.D. (Partner, Atlas Venture), Dan Becker, M.D., Ph.D. (Partner, Access Biotechnology), Josh Resnick, M.D. (Managing Director, RA Capital Management), and Simon Read, Ph.D. (CEO, Mariana Oncology).
About Mariana Oncology Therapeutics
Mariana Oncology is a fully integrated, next-generation radiopharmaceuticals company focused on pioneering a new class of targeted radiopharmaceuticals that are both safe and effective. Mariana Oncology’s radiopharmaceuticals are composed of rationally designed conjugates against carefully selected biological targets, to deliver alpha and beta-emitting radionuclide payloads. Mariana Oncology’s mission is to revolutionize the use of radiomedicines in cancer. Learn more at www.curietherapeutics.com
About Atlas Venture
Atlas Venture is a leading biotech venture capital firm. With the goal of doing well by doing good, we have been building breakthrough biotech startups since 1993. We work side by side with exceptional scientists and entrepreneurs to translate high-impact science into medicines for patients. Our seed-led venture creation strategy rigorously selects and focuses investment on the most compelling opportunities to build scalable businesses and realize value.
For more information, please visit www.atlasventure.com.
About Access Biotechnology
Access Biotechnology is the life science investment arm of Access Industries, a privately held industrial group with long-term holdings throughout the world. The firm leverages medical and scientific expertise to rigorously evaluate each new opportunity and collaborate with company stakeholders to meaningfully impact human health. Its investment strategy is broad, long term, and aims to enable truly innovative therapeutic platforms and products across three key stages: company foundation, technology translation, and company expansion.
About RA Capital Management
RA Capital Management is a multi-stage investment manager dedicated to evidence-based investing in public and private healthcare and life science companies that are developing drugs, medical devices, and diagnostics. The flexibility of its strategy allows RA Capital to provide seed funding to startups and to lead private, IPO, and follow-on financings for its portfolio companies, allowing management teams to drive value creation from inception through commercialization.
Contacts
Argot Partners
Sarah Sutton
mariana@argotpartners.com
212.600.1902