Pfizer among investors flooding Nimbus with $125M for TYK2 programs, phase 3 launch

Investors have flooded Nimbus Therapeutics with $125 million in private financing, money that will go toward three clinical inflammatory and autoimmune disorder programs, including a phase 3 psoriasis study.

The financing follows a $105 million funding round last summer, a $60 million private round in 2020 and a $65 million series C in 2018.

The new money will be partly used to round out ongoing phase 2b clinical trials of NDI-034858, the biotech’s oral allosteric tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor designed to treat psoriasis, as well as initiate a phase 3 study in the indication, according to a Sept. 12 release. The therapy, part of the JAK family, is a small molecule designed to be highly selective, though the FDA has flagged the class of medicines with black box warnings over elevated risk of serious infections, malignancy and thrombosis.   

The money will also help continue phase 2b clinical trials of NDI-034858 in other indications, such as inflammatory bowel disease and lupus. Nimbus has further plans for the funds to support ongoing phase 1/2 clinical trials of the biotech’s hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1) inhibitor—dubbed NDI-101150—in patients with solid tumors, as well as preclinical development of other programs.

The Massachusetts company pulled in new investors Bain Capital Life Sciences and SV Health Investors for the funding round, in addition to existing investors Pfizer Ventures, Access Biotechnology, Atlas Venture, BVF Partners L.P., Bill Gates, Lightstone Ventures, RA Capital Management and SR One.