Alumis Lands $259 Million Series C

<p><strong>SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO<&sol;strong> &&num;8212&semi; Alumis Inc&period;&comma; a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing oral therapies using a precision approach to transform the lives of patients with immune-mediated diseases&comma; has announced an upsized &dollar;259 million Series C financing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Alumis plans to use the proceeds of the financing to initiate pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials for its lead candidate ESK-001&comma; a highly selective and potentially best-in-class allosteric tyrosine kinase 2 &lpar;TYK2&rpar; inhibitor&comma; in moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in the second half of 2024&comma; as well as support the two ongoing Phase 2 clinical trials for ESK-001 in systemic lupus erythematosus &lpar;SLE&rpar;&comma; and non-infectious uveitis&period; The financing will also support the further advancement of Alumis’ precision data analytics and multi-platform approach to explore ESK-001’s potential application in other autoimmune indications&comma; as well as A-005&comma; a TYK2 inhibitor for the treatment of neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases&comma; and its earlier-stage internal pipeline programs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The financing was co-led by existing investor&comma; Foresite Capital&comma; and new investors&comma; Samsara BioCapital and venBio Partners&comma; with additional participation from new investors Cormorant Asset Management&comma; SR One&comma; Lilly Asia Ventures&comma; Nextech&comma; Ally Bridge Group&comma; HBM Healthcare Investments&comma; Omega Funds&comma; Piper Heartland Healthcare and existing investors AyurMaya&comma; an affiliate of Matrix Capital Management and a U&period;S&period;-based healthcare-focused fund&period; Srinivas Akkaraju&comma; M&period;D&period;&comma; Ph&period;D&period;&comma; Founder and Managing General Partner of Samsara BioCapital&comma; and Richard Gaster&comma; M&period;D&period;&comma; Ph&period;D&period;&comma; Managing Partner at venBio Partners&comma; will join Alumis’ Board of Directors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We are pleased to announce our successful Series C financing and we are grateful for the support of our strong investor syndicate&comma; a group that shares our commitment to transforming the treatment paradigm for patients living with immune-mediated diseases&comma;” said Martin Babler&comma; Alumis’ President and Chief Executive Officer&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This investment will support the continued clinical development of ESK-001&comma; building on promising data that have demonstrated full&comma; sustained target inhibition leading to a potentially best-in-class oral TYK2 inhibitor profile&period; It will also support continued advancement of additional pipeline programs powered by our proprietary precision immunology platform for target discovery and clinical development&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Led by a team with a proven track record in immunology and with whom we have successfully partnered previously&comma; Alumis has advanced a strong immunology pipeline&comma; including two oral allosteric TYK2 inhibitors&comma; fueled by an innovative platform&comma;” said Srinivas Akkaraju&comma; M&period;D&period;&comma; Ph&period;D&period;&comma; Founder and Managing General Partner of Samsara BioCapital&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are proud to invest in and work with this team again to support their continued growth and success as they explore both the full potential of their lead program&comma; ESK-001&comma; in immune-mediated diseases and the broad opportunity where the TYK2 pathway plays a key role&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;There is a significant unmet need in immunology for oral therapies that can provide improved efficacy and safety&comma;” said Richard Gaster&comma; M&period;D&period;&comma; Ph&period;D&period;&comma; Managing Partner at venBio Partners&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Alumis’ precision approach in this field – focused on the application of data science and translational insights to validated targets that drive immune dysfunction – will ultimately lead to better outcomes for patients&comma; and we look forward to supporting the team as they work to realize that goal&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;