Diagonal Therapeutics has launched with $128 million to go after an orphan disease that leads to chronic anemia, and another antibody for the same rare disease that is also targeted by Merck’s
newly approved drug
, Winrevair. Just last week, the biotech was congratulating its chief scientific officer on his contributions to the same Merck drug.
The Cambridge, MA-based biotech came out of stealth on Wednesday morning with the seed and Series A funds from blue-chip backers like BVF Partners and Atlas Venture. Additional investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, RA Capital Management, Frazier Life Sciences, Viking Global Investors
,
Velosity Capital and Checkpoint Capital.