This North Texas biotech startup just raised a whopping $95 million amid the pandemic - The Dallas Morning News

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Dallas-based Taysha Gene Therapies has raised $95 million in new funding for development of its treatments for rare childhood diseases.

The financial boost from investors such as Fidelity Management & Research, BlackRock and GV (formerly Google Ventures) marks the startup’s second big investment this year. In April, Taysha wrapped up a $30 million seed round that was the North Texas region’s largest funding haul in the second quarter, despite funding for startups slowing amid the pandemic.

Taysha’s work is focused on finding therapies for genetic diseases that can inhibit children’s ability to perform basic function like walking, talking eating and even breathing.

The biotech company will use the money to bolster its work on gene therapies for rare diseases affecting the central nervous system in partnership with UT Southwestern’s Gene Therapy Program. It’ll also help build a scalable manufacturing facility.

“This significant investment from premier, long-term investors will allow us to advance our mission of eradicating monogenic CNS disease for the thousands of patients who suffer from these devastating disorders,” Taysha founder and CEO RA Session II said in a statement.

The company plans to file four investigational new drug applications by the end of 2021, according to Session. It will begin clinical studies later this year for treatment of GM2 Gangliosidosi, a group of rare diseases in children that progressively destroy nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.

Taysha has a pipeline of 15 gene therapy drug candidates, with options on an additional four.

“We believe this financing provides significant validation of our corporate strategy and will enable us to continue to rapidly translate programs from preclinical development into the clinic,” Taysha board chairman Sean Nolan said in a statement.

Session formed Taysha with investors and executives from another well-known company, AveXis, which sold to Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis for $8.7 billion in 2018.

UT Southwestern has been on a roll in terms of commercializing its research. In May 2019, pharmaceutical giant Merck bought cancer drug spinoff Peloton Therapeutics in a $2.2 billion deal. Last June, a Boston-based pharmaceutical company acquired another spinoff, Exonics Therapeutics, in a deal that could be worth close to $1 billion.

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This North Texas biotech startup just raised a whopping $95 million amid the pandemic - The Dallas Morning News
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