Limelight Bio, a multi-disease biopharmaceutical company developing gene therapies, recently raised $75 million in financing funded by life sciences innovation fund Apple Tree Partners (ATP).
The company was founded in 2017 and has focused on severe retinal, hematologic/metabolic, and neurologic and hearing-loss diseases where no current therapies exist. It has operations in Philadelphia and Cambridge, Pa.
“Gene therapy has made significant advances in recent years, and particularly gene replacement delivered by adeno-associated virus vectors or AAV. Yet, most genetic diseases are not addressed by this approach,” Limelight Bio CEO Michael Ehlers, said. “The technology platforms in development at Limelight Bio seek to correct disease at its genetic origin in a way that is broad, versatile, scalable, and patient-centered. We are eager to accelerate our science to multiple drug candidates for patients for whom current approaches have fallen short.”
Limelight Bio has the potential to jump ahead of prevailing gene therapy and tackle a much broader array of genetic disorders, ATP Managing Partner Seth Harrison said.
ATP provides the capital and expertise to innovative life scientists worldwide to help them build new biotechnology companies. The fund uses a hub-and-spoke model and has $2.5 billion in assets and available funding.