This summer, Nimbus Therapeutics CEO Jeb Keiper assured us the company wasn’t just a one-hit wonder. Now, it’s reeling in $60 million and signing on two new investors, RA Capital Management and BVF Partners, to prove that out.
To demonstrate that Nimbus can go beyond the acetyl-CoA carboxylase inhibitor it developed that was snapped up by Gilead Sciences for $400 million in 2016, it will have to move programs into the clinic and maintain a discovery engine that can keep turning up promising drugs.
The proceeds will push Nimbus’ lead program, a Tyk2 inhibitor for psoriasis, into a phase 2 study, as well as a second program, a HPK1 blocker, into the clinic in 2021. It will also advance several preclinical prospects, including four that Nimbus unveiled in June, as well as others it’s still keeping under wraps.
The four recently disclosed programs include those targeting CTPS1, an enzyme that plays a role in immune activation, and AMPKβ2, which regulates metabolic homeostasis in many tissues. The other two take aim at WRN and Cbl-b, both immuno-oncology targets. All four are difficult to drug.
“The transition of moving a discovery portfolio into the clinic is absolutely the right time to go out and ensure we have the right capital,” Keiper said.
“We love our existing investors—it’s been five years since we brought new investors on board at Nimbus. It’s great to expand the circle as we move the programs forward,” he added. Each of the company’s investors had participated in its previous $65 million round in 2018, including Atlas Venture, SR One, Lilly Ventures, Pfizer Venture Investments, Lightstone Ventures and Schrödinger, as well as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who had provided Nimbus with part of its initial seed funding in 2011.
But not everyone who wanted to join in got the chance to.
“[W]hile we could not welcome all the investors with interest in Nimbus into this round, we expect with continued success to build on this financing by bringing on additional new investment in 2021,” Keiper said in a statement.
It’s part of Nimbus’ strategy to raise the right amount of capital at the right time. It’s always hard to say no to investors who want to chip in, Keiper said, but the company is focused on raising enough capital to run the next study, which will tee up the next round.
“We’re powering up Nimbus for the future … with successful data, we will continue to grow, expand and welcome new investors,” he said.