Ribometrix raises cash to target RNA

Abstract

Ribometrix is the latest biotech start-up to raise cash for a bold, but increasingly popular, idea in drug discovery: target RNA with small-molecule drugs. Kevin Weeks, a chemist at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and his former undergraduate student Katie Warner launched Ribometrix with $7.5 million in seed funding just over a year ago. Now the firm has raised $30 million in a series A round and is providing hints at how its RNA-targeting technology could be a new way to block the creation of disease-causing proteins in cancer and other diseases. Ribometrix is joining a suite of other well-funded start-ups pursuing similar RNA-targeting strategies, including Arrakis Therapeutics, Expansion Therapeutics, and Skyhawk Therapeutics. Big pharma companies, including Merck & Co. and Novartis, are also quietly working on similar programs. Almost all small-molecule drugs bind to proteins with well-defined structures. RNA, which holds instructions for making proteins, has long been