Key Highlights
- Santa Ana Bio secures $168M in Series A and B funding rounds.
- Versant Ventures, GV, and TPG’s Life Science Innovations fund are key investors.
- Company aims to advance therapies targeting disease-causing cell types.
- Lead programs poised to enter clinical trials next year.
- Team includes notable experts in immunology and drug development.
Source: Business Wire
Notable Quotes
- “Precision medicines offer the ability to target defined cell types and pathways to disrupt the pathogenic biology driving disease. By identifying pathogenic cell types and pathways, and leveraging our deep protein engineering capabilities including monoclonal, bi-specific antibodies and ADCs, we aim to expand the reach of biologics to patients across numerous inflammatory diseases.” — Peter Emtage, Ph.D., CEO and Board Member at Santa Ana Bio
- “Each of Santa Ana’s programs builds upon clinical precedent, yet provides important differentiation from past approaches. Given the breadth of these programs and pipeline, Santa Ana clearly has optionality to advance these promising internal programs and to pursue partnerships.” — Jerel Davis, Ph.D., Managing Director at Versant and Board Chair at Santa Ana Bio
- “We’re thrilled to lead the Santa Ana Series B and support Peter and the team as they advance a pipeline of antibodies for autoimmune diseases. Peter is a preeminent expert in immunology and has brought together a distinguished group of scientific leaders to advance lead programs.” — Brendan Bulik-Sullivan, Ph.D., Board Member and General Partner at GV
SoHC's Take
Santa Ana Bio’s emergence from stealth with substantial funding underscores the growing importance of precision immunology in treating autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. By leveraging advanced proteomic, transcriptomic, and genomic approaches, Santa Ana Bio is set to address the limitations of current biologics, which often fail to differentiate between diseased and healthy tissue. The strategic backing from leading investors and the assembly of a distinguished team of scientific leaders bolster confidence in the company’s potential to deliver innovative and effective therapies. As their lead programs enter clinical trials, Santa Ana Bio is poised to make significant advancements in the field of precision medicine.
