SciFluor banks $5M for new drug technology

The upstart SciFluor Life Sciences has garnered a $5 million Series A round from Allied Minds. The money will be used to advance new fluorination technology developed at Harvard University in the lab of Tobias Ritter. According to its release, adding fluorine to molecules can make a key difference on a score of points: improved metabolic stability, potency, binding affinity, bioavailability and blood-brain barrier penetration. "Late- or end-stage fluorination is a promising strategy to quickly access new drug candidates with potentially improved pharmacological profiles," said Dr. Ritter, scientific founder and chief technical officer of SciFluor. Dr. Ritter is an Associate Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard. Release