WILMINGTON – A precision oncology startup based out of the Experimental Station in Wilmington has emerged with $102 million financing last week.
Synnovation Therapeutics, led by CEO Wenqing Yao, completed Series A funding round led by Third Rock Ventures. The investment also included funds from Nextech, Lilly Asia Ventures, Sirona Capital and Cormorant Asset Management. The funding will advance Synnovation’s clinical and preclinical pipeline for two drugs, SNV1521 and SNV4818, among other programs.
“At Synnovation, we have assembled a top-notch team dedicated to fostering a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach,” Yao said in a statement. “Our goal is to develop best-in-class therapies, ultimately aiming to enhance the lives of patients. We look forward to advancing in the clinic … as we continue to grow our potential best-in-class pipeline of agents.”
Synnovation aims to lead the way on cutting edge research on combating solid tumors by finding genetic and pharmacologic vulnerabilities of cancer. The company is expected to start human testing on undisclosed cancers in the coming weeks.
Yao spent 19 years at Incyte, where he eventually served as head of discovery chemistry before he left to launch Synnovation in 2021. The company’s co-founder, Liangxing Wu, worked alongside Yao at Incyte on research to create new molecules to aid treatments.
Synnovation’s management team also led to discovery of four other drugs while working at Incyte, including Jakafi and Opzelura.
Other Synnovation key leaders include other Incyte veterans Phillip Liu as senior vice president and head of biology and Kevin O’Hayer, the senior vice president and head of clinical development.
Previously, Liu led a cell and molecular biology group that supported Incyte’s discovery pipeline and collaborated closely with Yao and Wu on small molecule programs. O’Hayer also developed clinical programs to treat inflammatory conditions and Covid-19.
Synnovation Therapeutics also raised $69.9 million in December, making it the largest venture capital deal of the final quarter of the year, according to the latest Venture Monitor report from PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association.
