The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia spinoff Latus Bio managed to raise $54 million and has now emerged from stealth mode, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal.
The Philadelphia-based company closed the Series A financing round led by 8VC of Austin and DCVC Bio of San Francisco. Samsung Life Science Fund, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Foundation, Benjamin Franklin Technology Partners, Modi Ventures, and Gaingels also participated in the round.
Latus was formed in 2022 to focus on candidates for central nervous system disorder gene therapy that originated in the lab run by Professor Beverly Davidson, a company co-founder. Davidson serves as the chief scientific strategy officer at CHOP and was also co-founder of Spark Therapeutics. Spark is another CHOP spinout that went public in 2015 and later sold to Roche for $4.8 billion.
Dr. Jang-Ho Cha is another Latus founder. He is the company’s chief scientific officer and has previously held leadership positions at Novartis and Merck.
According to physician-scientist P. Peter Ghoroghchian, CEO of Latus, the technology the recently formed company is developing “has the potential to transform the treatment landscape” for genetically defined central nervous system disorders.
The company is targeting to start its human clinical testing in late 2025.
Read more about Latus Bio and its future in the Philadelphia Business Journal.
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