On the heels of an $18 million Series B round, Seattle-based Cyrus Biotechnology said Monday it has acquired Orthogonal Biologics, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign spinout.
Orthogonal Biologics makes protein drugs designed to stop the spread of viruses. The company is currently focused on SARS-CoV-2, the cause of Covid-19, and human cytomegalovirus, which can cause neurological defects in newborns.
The companies didn't disclose the financial terms of the deal.
“We are thrilled to bring together a range of experienced biotech investors from across the globe to support our move into independent drug discovery,” Cyrus CEO Lucas Nivon said in a news release. “Over the last four years, we have worked with dozens of companies, such as Janssen and other global pharmaceuticals, to advance their biologics, honing and validating our algorithms in the process.”
Cyrus, founded in 2014, offers software to help with protein design and modeling. Its technology is aimed at helping clients bring new drugs to market. According to the company, Cyrus has worked with more than 90 partners, and its software came from the lab of David Baker, head of the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington.
OrbiMed Advisors, Trinity Ventures, Agent Capital, Yard Ventures, Washington Research Foundation, iSelect Fund, W Fund and Selecta Bioscience all participated in the round. Agent Capital, a health care venture capital firm, has almost 20 companies in its portfolio, including Orchard Therapeutics and Precision BioSciences.
“Cyrus has proven the power of its Rosetta-based platform as a software and services company," Geeta Vemuri, founder and managing partner at Agent Capital, said in a news release. "We are very excited to now apply those software and laboratory tools directly for Cyrus’s partners and in-house drug discovery.”
