Penn spinout Cabaletta Bio’s first funding round includes university investment and it will use the cash to develop T-cell drugs for autoimmune diseases including pemphigus vulgaris.
Cabaletta Bio, a US-based autoimmune disease therapy spinout from University of Pennsylvania, made its public debut on Thursday having completed a $38m series A round backed by the university.
The series A round was led by life science-focused venture capital firm 5AM Ventures and also featured investment fund Adage Capital Management.
Founded in June 2017, Cabaletta is working on drugs for autoimmune diseases that work by modifying the patient’s T-cells – a form of white blood cell – so they can attack malignant B-cells while sparing those essential for human health.
Cabaletta will use the funding for preclinical and early clinical activities on its lead candidate, DSG3-CAART, which will target pemphigus vulgaris, a potentially fatal autoimmune disease that causes painful blisters to form on the skin and the lining of the mouth, nose, throat and genitals.
The startup has an exclusive licence agreement with University of Pennsylvania, in addition to two multi-year deals it has secured for sponsored research.
Cabaletta was co-founded by Michael Milone, an associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Penn, together with Aimee Payne, who leads the university’s autoimmune blistering clinic.
Milone and Payne were assisted by Steven Nichtberger, an entrepreneur and adjunct professor at the Penn Department of Health Care Management with experience in healthcare.
