Ropes & Gray Represents Goldfinch Bio in Securing $100 Million in Series B Financing

Ropes & Gray represented Goldfinch Bio in securing $100 million in Series B financing. The transaction was announced on June 30. 

The financing was led by Eventide Asset Management, and included new investors Wellington Management Company, Ally Bridge Group, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Casdin Capital, LLC and Irving Investors, along with existing investors Gilead Sciences, Yonjin Capital, Schroeder Adveq and other undisclosed institutional investors. In connection with the financing, Joy Ghosh, Ph.D., a senior research analyst at Eventide Asset Management, will join the Company’s Board of Directors. 

Goldfinch is advancing two programs through development: a first-in-class selective inhibitor of ion channel Transient Receptor Potential Canonical Channel 5 (TRPC5) and a peripherally-restricted cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) inverse agonist. 

The ion channel therapy will soon en­ter Phase II trial for a kid­ney-scar­ring dis­ease called FS­GS and di­a­bet­ic nephropa­thy, when com­pli­ca­tions from diabetes lead to lost kid­ney func­tion. The cannabi­noid re­cep­tor therapy will go in­to a proof-of-con­cept tri­al next year for a form of di­a­bet­ic nephropa­thy that is me­di­at­ed by that re­cep­tor. 

The Ropes & Gray team was led by life sciences partners Marc Rubenstein and Bradford Flint (both of Boston).