A former venture capitalist for Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Robert Overell, has structured an interesting round of funding for the Seattle-based startup PhaseRx. A trio of familiar funds, Arch Venture Partners, 5 AM Ventures and Versant Ventures have put up $4 million and committed to another $15 million--provided the company hits its development marks. Arch partner Steven Gillis will ride herd on their investment as chairman of PhaseRx with board members John Diekman of 5 AM and Brian Atwood of Versant.
Overell is focused on achieving a breakthrough at the company. PhaseRx will use polymer technology developed at the University of Washington to deliver siRNA as an injectable therapy that skirts most side effects by using synthetic polymers to allow siRNA to penetrate cell membranes--a key barrier to therapy. If successful, they would have a platform technology that could be used in therapies for a broad spectrum of diseases.
- read the report from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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