Kronos Bio announces $155 million private financing for the discovery and development of novel cancer therapeutics

Kronos Bio, a Silicon Valley-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical startup dedicated to the research and development of first-in-class therapies that modulate historically recalcitrant cancer targets, today announced private financing of approximately $155 million of convertible notes, with $148 million in funding received to date and the remaining $7 million to be funded by mid-September pursuant to binding commitments.

The financing was led by Perceptive Advisors and included funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Inc., funds affiliated with Casdin Partners, Commodore Capital, EcoR1 Capital, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Woodline Partners, and a large diversified asset manager on the west coast, as well as existing investors.

Founded in 2017 by Angela Koehler, Christopher Wilfong, and Joshua Kazam, Kronos Bio is discovering and developing novel cancer therapeutics designed to transform patient outcomes through a precision medicine strategy by targeting dysregulated transcription.

Kronos Bio develops therapies that modulate historically undruggable targets. The company leverages deep capabilities in high-throughput small-molecule microarrays (SMM), targeted protein degradation, and cancer biology in order to identify potent and selective compounds against transcription factors and other central drivers of oncogenic signaling

“We appreciate the strong support from this group of investors and believe this capital will help propel Kronos through our upcoming period of clinical development,” said Norbert Bischofberger, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Kronos.

He added: “Importantly, this capital will help advance our lead spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) inhibitor, which we recently acquired from Gilead, including potentially into a registrational trial in 2021. It will also help us advance our second lead pipeline candidate, KB-0742, a differentiated CDK9 inhibitor, into a Phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of MYC-amplified solid tumors, as well as to further invest in our product discovery engine to drive multiple oncology programs targeting dysregulated transcription factors.”