NEW YORK – Mirador Therapeutics launched on Thursday with more than $400 million in financing, which it will put toward developing precision medicines for chronic immune-mediated inflammatory and fibrotic diseases.
The financing was led by ARCH Venture Partners, included early investments from OrbiMed and Fairmount, and participation from other life sciences investors, including Fidelity Management & Research, Point72, Farallon Capital Management, Boxer Capital, TCGX, Invus, Logos Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Sanofi Ventures, Woodline Partners LP, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, RTW Investments, and Alexandria Venture Investments.
Mirador, headquartered in San Diego, was founded by Mark McKenna, former chairman, president, and CEO of Prometheus Biosciences, another company developing treatments for immune-mediated diseases, which Merck acquired last year for $10.8 billion. At Mirador's helm are several former Prometheus executives in addition to McKenna, who will serve as chairman and CEO.
"The Mirador team has an outstanding track record of success in precision immunology, and we are well on our way to building a company that will make a lasting impact on the lives of millions of patients suffering from a broad range of immune-mediated inflammatory and fibrotic diseases," Kristina Burow, managing director of ARCH and Mirador board member, said in a statement.
The firm aims to develop precision medicines using its Mirador360 development engine to analyze patients' molecular profiles and discover genetic associations with disease, therapeutic targets, and target-target pairs relevant for combination therapies. Mirador may also develop diagnostics that can home in on patients most likely to respond to treatments.
"The industry has only scratched the surface of utilizing advances in human genetics — coupled with exponential progress in machine learning — to accelerate the development of precision therapies for patients who need them the most," McKenna said in a statement.