The round is one of the year’s largest and comes at a time when venture funding has been more difficult for startups to secure. The proceeds will help fund a Phase 3 trial in plaque psoriasis, Alumis said. Phase 2 tests in lupus and a type of eye inflammation are underway as well.
Sotyktu, first TYK2 inhibitorTYK2 inhibitor to come along, proved the approach could be used to effectively treat the skin diseaseplaque psoriasis. Notably, its approval in 2022 also came without the type of safety warnings associated with so-called JAK inhibitorsJAK inhibitors, a similar group of oral anti-inflammatory medicines.
Since then, there’s been a surge in investments in companies aiming to surpass Sotyktu. Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda paid $4 billion to acquire an experimental drug developed by Nimbus Therapeutics. Takeda has since presented the data that convinced it to make the deal, and planned a bevy of additional trials.
Nimbus is being joined by companies like Alumis and Sudo Biosciences. All of them argue their drugs are more selective than Sotyktu, and as a result, could be more potent. That hasn’t been definitively proven, and another to make that claim, Ventyx Biosciences, had to redraw its development plans after disappointing study results.
Alumis could soon reveal important data underlying its work, though. The company will present present Phase 2 data from studies in psoriasis at a medical meeting this weekend. It’s also developing a different type of TYK2 blockerTYK2 blocker for neurodegenerative diseases. That drug is in preclinical testing.
The Series C was co-led by existing investor Foresite Capital as well as new backers Samsara BioCapital and venBio Partners. A lengthy list of additional investors, among them Cormorant Asset Management, SR One and Lilly Asia Ventures, also participated.