SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., and SEATTLE, WA— Sonoma Biotherapeutics, an immune tolerance company focused on the development of regulatory T cell (Treg) therapies, has announced an oversubscribed $265 million Series B financing. Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance Sonoma Bio’s Treg cell therapy platform and a novel Teff conditioning biologic into the clinic to treat multiple, severe autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and to further invest in and scale up manufacturing operations in order to support supply for initial clinical studies.
“We are ushering in a new era of medicine, using immune cells as living therapies that persist in the body, providing a lasting and potentially curative activity to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases,” said Jeffrey Bluestone, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO of Sonoma Biotherapeutics. “We are laser focused on applying this approach to the vast unmet medical need that exists in immune-driven diseases, where engineered Treg cell therapies can help restore and reset the immune system when it goes awry.”
Marquee life sciences and healthcare-focused investors participated in the Series B, led by the global life science-focused investment group Ally Bridge Group, with participation from new investors including ArrowMark, Avidity Partners, Casdin Capital, Deep Track Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Frazier Healthcare Partners, GV, Janus Henderson Investors, Mirae Asset, NS Investment, Osage University Partners, Piper Heartland Healthcare Capital, Vertex Ventures HC and an undisclosed global investment fund. Existing investors also supported this financing, including 8VC, ARCH Venture Partners, Alexandria Venture Investments, the JDRF T1D Fund, LifeForce Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures Biosciences and Octagon Capital. Since its founding in 2019, Sonoma Bio has raised more than $335 million.
“We’re proud to lead Sonoma Bio’s Series B financing and support their game-changing efforts to fundamentally change the treatment of autoimmune diseases,” said Frank Yu, Founder, CEO and CIO at Ally Bridge Group. “Sonoma Bio, which creates a new therapeutic paradigm, has assembled a leading world-class team who are pioneering technology to unlock this novel cell therapy approach for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.”
“The Sonoma Bio team possesses the creativity and breadth of experience to realize the promise of Treg cell therapy for people living with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases,” said Rick Klausner, M.D., Chairman of Sonoma Bio’s Board of Directors. “With the backing of an incredible syndicate of established life science investors, Sonoma Bio has the capital resources, the talent, the technology and the passion to completely transform treatment for patients with these diseases.”
