Nurix nabs $120m

Nurix Therapeutics, a US-based cancer drug developer spun out of University of California (UC), Berkeley, has completed a $120m round led by life sciences investment firm Foresite Capital.
Incubator and venture firm Third Rock Ventures also contributed to the round, as did Bain Capital’s Life Sciences unit, Tavistock Group’s Boxer Capital, EcoR1 Capital, Redmile Group, Wellington Management, Column Group and one undisclosed investor.
Founded in 2009 as Kura Therapeutics, Nurix develops cancer drugs that modulate production of specific proteins by triggering an enzyme class called E3 ligase.
Nurix’s pipeline includes two pre-clinical candidates: a drug for B-cell malignancies due for US clinical-stage approval later in 2020, and an immunotherapy focused on stimulating immune system T-cells.
The B-cell cancer drug degrades proteins using E3 ligases, while the T-cell candidate inhibits a ligase called CBL-B to boost substrate protein levels. Nurix will put the money towards its development priorities to advance its candidates into the clinic.
The company was co-founded by two UC Berkeley faculty members, John Kuriyan and Michael Rapé, together with Arthur Weiss, a distinguished professor at UC San Francisco. All three are also researchers at Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Nurix also has collaborative programs in place with pharmaceutical firms Celgene, Sanofi and Gilead.
Celgene made an equity investment of undisclosed size as part of its deal in 2015, with a regulatory filing submitted a few weeks ahead of the announcement showing Nurix had obtained $17m in funding.
The spinout raised $25.1m in a 2014 series B round featuring Third Rock and Column Group, the latter of which had led an earlier $6.2m round featuring Third Rock that closed in 2013. Nurix obtained $3.1m in funding in 2012, according to a filing.