Garuda Therapeutics Nabs $50 Million Series A-1 Financing for Off-the-Shelf Blood Stem Cell Therapies
New funds aim to advance Garuda’s pipeline toward clinical trials, expand manufacturing capabilities, and support operational growth.
Garuda Therapeutics (Garuda), a biotechnology company developing off-the-shelf hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) therapies for various blood disorders, announced the completion of an approximately $50 million Series A-1 funding round.
Investors included OrbiMed, Northpond Ventures, and Cormorant Asset Management, as well as a new strategic investment from Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd., a specialty pharmaceutical company based in Japan.
According to the company, this funding addresses the growing demand for immediate, readily available, and cost-effective stem cell transplant solutions. Garuda reports that its technology produces durable, self-renewing blood stem cells that are human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-compatible and free from transgenes (genes introduced from an external source). As a potential first-of-its-kind off-the-shelf offering, Garuda’s technology aims to address various blood disorders without relying on donor-derived cells.
The Series A-1 funding will be used to advance Garuda’s therapeutic candidates into clinical testing, build a skilled team, scale up in-house manufacturing capabilities, and support general operational activities.
“We are thrilled to have closed this Series A-1 round,” said Avanish Vellanki, CEO of Garuda Therapeutics. “Garuda’s first off-the-shelf hematopoietic stem cell transplantation candidate has the potential to HLA-match approximately 12% of the global population without the need for a donor. Additional drug candidates, leveraging the same technology, are aimed to grow the HLA-matched eligible patient population to up to half of the global population for treatment of a range of diseases where a reset of bone marrow function is needed. This funding will enable us to accelerate clinical development of our novel technology and move us closer to delivering transformative therapies to patients where there is a great medical need.”
Mr. Vellanki continued, “Our first product candidate will be evaluated in HLA-matched patients with bone marrow failure syndrome and beta thalassemia. We intend to provide additional detail on our emerging pipeline, based on our proprietary technology, as appropriate.”
“We are honored to be backing Garuda as they disrupt the market with their innovative readily available, off-the-shelf technology. The Company’s vision for the future of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation without the need for stem cell donors make this a compelling investment opportunity,” said Carl Gordon, Ph.D., C.F.A., Managing Partner at OrbiMed.
About Garuda Therapeutics:
Garuda Therapeutics aims to develop hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) therapies that eliminate the need for donor-derived stem cells. Garuda’s proprietary technology platform produces off-the-shelf, self-renewing, HLA-compatible, transgene-free HSCs, immediately available to patients. According to the company, these therapies could potentially address a variety of blood disorders, including cancers, autoimmune conditions, rare hematologic disorders, and inherited metabolic diseases, by effectively resetting bone marrow function.
For more information, please visit https://garudatx.com/
