NEW YORK – Ratio Therapeutics on Wednesday announced that it has raised $20 million in a Series A financing round, which it plans to put toward developing its targeted radiotherapeutics for patients with solid tumors.
Duquesne Capital and Schusterman Family Investments led the financing round, and Kenan Turnacioglu, general partner at Catalio Capital Management, represented them as an executive adviser. The round also involved participation from Ratio's existing investor base.
The Boston-based biotech, which launched in June 2022, will use the funds to advance its technology platforms, Trillium and Macropa. The funds will also support clinical trials of Ratio's radiotherapeutics and allow the firm to hire new experts and ink strategic partnerships. Ratio has existing collaborations with Bayer and Lantheus Holdings.
When Ratio launched last year, it did so with $20 million in seed financing, which brings the total amount the firm has raised to date to $40 million.
The firm's radiopharmaceutical platforms are designed to be "tunable," such that they can deliver radioactive alpha particles to cancer cells without added toxicities. Trillium can be altered to bind to any antigen-specific target, Ratio says, and Macropa is the chelator that binds to the alpha-emitting cytotoxic isotope, actinium-225. The first indication that Ratio is pursuing with its technology will be prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Ratio will develop this therapy in partnership with Bayer.
In announcing the Series A financing, Ratio also said that Susan Whoriskey will join its board of directors and work as a strategic adviser to the executive team.
"This financing extends our cash runway into 2024 and will allow us to continue making progress toward our milestones," Ratio CEO and Chairman Jack Hoppin said in a statement. "We look forward to working closely with our shareholders as we continue to advance our R&D platforms and bring innovative treatments to address the unmet needs of patients as quickly as possible."