Eleven Biotherapeutics announces completion of $35M Series A funding

Eleven Biotherapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on translating breakthrough discoveries from science and medicine to engineer and develop innovative protein-based therapeutics, announced today it has completed a $35 million Series A financing co-led by Flagship Ventures and Third Rock Ventures. Proceeds from the financing will be used to build the research and development and business development teams for Eleven Biotherapeutics, in addition to advancing the company’s portfolio of engineered proteins through clinical proof of concept.

“Combining these strategies allows Eleven Biotherapeutics to engineer protein therapeutics to create a full pipeline of products that address unmet needs and outperform other therapies for a variety of diseases, such as inflammatory conditions and coagulation disorders”

Strong Scientific Foundation

Eleven was founded by Flagship Ventures, Third Rock Ventures and leading scientific experts Reza Dana, M.D., M.P.H., M.Sc. (Harvard), K. Christopher Garcia, Ph.D. (Stanford), Gregory Verdine, Ph.D. (Harvard), Casey Weaver, M.D. (University of Alabama), and K. Dane Wittrup, Ph.D. (MIT). The company’s scientific foundation is based on recent breakthroughs in protein engineering and structural biology. By harnessing improved structural understanding of the functions of individual protein domains and the maturation of several technologies for protein design, Eleven will take a “medicinal chemistry-like” approach to the development of protein-based therapeutics. The company’s initial focus includes developing products to treat inflammatory conditions and coagulation disorders.

“This is a very exciting time within the molecular biology community. The combination of new understanding of cellular and molecular processes with new, highly sophisticated technologies for protein manipulation provide unprecedented opportunities to target specific aspects of disease processes,” said Prof. Wittrup. “We can now offer hope for promising new ways to treat disease.”

Dr. Weaver commented, “Rapid advances in our understanding of processes that govern autoimmunity, such as the contributions of the Th17 pathway and its associated cytokines to inflammatory disorders, have presented new opportunities for treatment of immune-mediated diseases. Eleven Biotherapeutics is well positioned to take a leading role in structure-based design and development of biologics that target key molecules of this pathway.”

“Over the past several years, we have evolved our understanding of cytokines and how they interact with various receptors to produce inflammatory and other responses that lead to disease,” said Dr. Garcia. “Eleven Biotherapeutics is uniquely positioned to translate this new understanding into potential therapeutic interventions to provide improved treatments for a range of diseases.”