HQ Team
October 19, 2024: Stealth startup Treeline Biosciences has raised another $421 million, one of the biggest raises of the year in biotech, according to SEC filing.
The biotech company that was floated by Josh Bilenker and Jeff Engelman’s in 2021, has raised almost $900 million till date.
The Stamford, CT-based startup has managed to raise millions in funding but there is not much known about their drug pipeline or research programs. They have two more offices in San Diego and Watertown, MA, with a nearly 150-member team.
Their company website mentions they are still awaiting any “scientific disclosure that has clear implications for patients with cancer and other serious diseases.” The post mentions that as their company name connotes they are at the outer edge of possibilities in their field. It will be working on molecular targets in oncology that were difficult to drug, as well as other therapeutic areas. The company’s drug discovery platform includes mechanistic biology, medicinal chemistry, computational science, structural biology, and protein science, enabling medical professionals to cure cancer.
Hengrui Pharma deal
Last year, Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. of China, licensed its EZH2 inhibitor, SHR-2554, to Treeline Biosciences Inc. in a deal worth more than $700 million. Treeline will be granted worldwide exclusive rights to the lymphoma drug, except for greater China, in exchange for an up-front payment of $11 million, development milestone payments of up to $45 million, and milestone payments of up to $650 million based on annual net sales once commercialization begins, according to a statement.
Founders of Treeline
Both the founders come with immense experience in the biopharma field. Josh Bilenker previously worked in the oncology division of the Food and Drug Administration before founding another biotech company Loxo Oncology that sold for $8 billion to pharma giant Eli Lilley in 2019. Engelman, Treeline’s other co-founder and chief scientific officer, was previously the global head of oncology at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research.
According to Thursday’s SEC filing, Treeline’s board includes leaders at the investment firms ARCH, KKR, Aisling Capital, OrbiMed, GV and AI Life Sciences, an affiliate of Access Industries.