Meliora Therapeutics Raises $11M Seed Financing to Develop First Mechanism Of Action Atlas in Oncology
Summary
MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Meliora Therapeutics, a biotech company pioneering a machine learning-driven platform to decipher oncology drugs true mechanisms-of-action, announced today the close of an $11M seed financing round led by HOF Capital and ZhenFund, with participation from Obvious Ventures, Village Global, BrightEdge (the impact investment arm of the American Cancer Society), Pebblebed (fund of Keith Adams, former Chief Architect at Slack), Axial, Olive Capital, and prominent individual investors Michael Polansky (co-founder of Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and ArsenalBio), Wes Sterman (founding investor for Gilead), and others.Founded in September 2021, Melioras computational platform enables researchers to develop a precise understanding of a drugs true mechanism of action (MOA) based on data and not guesswork. Were thrilled to have the support of this top-tier investor syndicate, and the funds will be used to expand our team and accelerate development of our proprietary computational platform. We believe Melioras novel approach will be highly impactful in the oncology drug development space, said Michael Polansky, co-founder of Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and ArsenalBio.Alice Pomponio, Managing Director of BrightEdge, the impact investment arm of the American Cancer Society (ACS) said, We celebrate the achievements of our ACS grantees and now, through BrightEdge, we are deepening our innovation acceleration capabilities that enable scientific founders like Dr. Jason Sheltzer to translate their research into emerging biotech companies that accelerate ACSs mission to defeat cancer and advance health equity.The seed funding will be used to expand Melioras computational platform, which includes building a proprietary data moat and selecting mischaracterized scaffolds as strong starting points for its lead precision therapeutic programs. The company has already built a computational prototype which identifies the correct mechanism of action (MOA) for small molecule drugs and generated in-vitro wet lab data for dozens of compounds computationally identified as having an alternate mechanism of action, with many of these compounds generating strong potency against the in silico predicted target. This proprietary discovery engine converts the existing world of optimized chemistry into an asset generating flywheel with high potential for clinical success.