On February 29, 2024 BlossomHill Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the design and development of small molecule medicines for treating cancer and autoimmune diseases, reported the closing of a $100 million Series B financing round (Press release, BlossomHill Therapeutics, FEB 29, 2024, View Source [SID1234640653]). The round was led by Colt Ventures with participation from new and existing investors, including Cormorant Asset Management, OrbiMed, Vivo Capital, Hercules BioVentures Partners LLC, Plaisance Capital Management LLC and H&D Asset Management, among others. In conjunction with the financing round, Sundeep Agrawal, M.D., General Partner at Colt Ventures, and Timothy Stubbs, M.D., Principal at Vivo Capital, will join the BlossomHill Board of Directors.

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This financing brings the total capital raised by the company to $173 million. BlossomHill will use the proceeds to advance its pipeline of multiple in-house discovery and development programs for multiple high-need cancers and autoimmune diseases into the clinic.

"We appreciate the strong support from our new and existing investors in this round of financing," said J. Jean Cui, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of BlossomHill Therapeutics. "This will be a pivotal year for BlossomHill as we move our first two oncology programs into phase 1 clinical trials, advance several programs forward to IND enabling studies, and continue to build our already very deep pipeline of oncology and autoimmune discovery programs."

BlossomHill is a drug design company redefining precision medicine to make a leap forward in life expectancy and quality of life for patients, creating novel chemical entities that seek to address on- and off-target resistance mechanisms. Combining human intelligence, creative thinking, and proven drug design expertise, the company is developing small molecules with the potential to redefine the gold standard for cancer and autoimmune disease treatment.

"It is a privilege to partner with Dr. Jean Cui and her team at BlossomHill. We have been highly impressed with her drug design capabilities and the innovative pipeline she has built," said Sundeep Agrawal, M.D., General Partner at Colt Ventures. "Jean has an outstanding track record of designing three FDA-approved cancer drugs, and we look forward to supporting the company’s next phase of development."

BlossomHill was co-founded in June 2020 by renowned drug designer and chemist Dr. Jean Cui, who is responsible for the design of the FDA-approved drugs crizotinib (XALKORI), lorlatinib (LOBRENA) and repotrectinib (AUGTYRO) and biotech business veteran, Y. Peter Li, Ph.D., M.B.A. Dr. Cui and Dr. Li were also the co-founders of Turning Point Therapeutics, Inc., which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in June 2022.

"We are excited to continue to support BlossomHill Therapeutics’ creative, trailblazing drug development team in its mission of bringing potentially best-in-class drug treatment to meaningfully improve patient lives," said Bihua Chen, Founder of Cormorant Asset Management.

"Since its founding, the company has made rapid progress on its drug discovery programs, and we look forward to the generation of clinical data as BlossomHill enters its next phase," added Carl Gordon, Ph.D.,Managing Partner, OrbiMed Advisors.