UW Madison’s small-molecule therapy spinout has raised $170m in venture funding since emerging from stealth less than a year ago.
Design Therapeutics, a US-based gene therapy spinout of University of Wisconsin-Madison, has filed for a $100m initial public offering that will allow SR One, the venture capital firm funded by pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline, to exit.
Founded in 2017, Design Therapeutics is developing small molecule drugs known as gene targeted chimeras to treat inherited nucleotide repeat expansion diseases.
The spinout will use the IPO proceeds to advance product candidates for myotonic dystrophy type-1 and Friedreich ataxia, an inherited disease that affects the nervous system, through phase 1 clinical trials.
Design emerged from stealth in March 2020 having secured $45m in a series A round led by a $15m investment from SR One and backed by Cormorant Asset Management, Quan Capital and WestRiver Group.
Logos Capital then led a $125m series B round in January this year that included all the series A investors, Janus…
