On June 10, 2025 Antares Therapeutics, Inc. ("Antares"), a biotechnology company developing first-in-class precision medicines for cancer and other serious diseases, reported to have launched with $177 million in Series A financing (Press release, Antares Therapeutics, JUN 10, 2025, View Source [SID1234653811]). The financing was co-led by Omega Funds, Atlas Venture, Lightspeed Venture Partners, BVF Partners, and Cormorant Asset Management, with participation from Vinyanshu Ventures, Abingworth, Invus, Tenmile, Vida Ventures, and Willett Advisors.
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Antares is a spin-out of Scorpion Therapeutics, Inc. ("Scorpion"), which sold its mutant-selective PI3Kα inhibitor program, STX-478, to Eli Lilly and Company ("Lilly") in March 2025 for up to $2.5 billion in total consideration. Scorpion was founded in 2020 and, in the subsequent five years, raised a total of $420 million in financing, executed partnerships with multiple pharmaceutical companies, and generated six development candidates, three of which are in clinical testing. Antares is led by Scorpion’s former executive leadership team and is advancing a pipeline of small molecule assets developed at Scorpion, including programs in precision oncology and other therapeutic areas, as well as programs initiated through Scorpion’s 2022 transcription factor collaboration with AstraZeneca.
"We took our name from Antares, the brightest star in the Scorpius constellation, and known as ‘the heart of the Scorpion.’ We are building from a strong foundation with a team of experts who are experienced in making new medicines, as well as proprietary drug discovery capabilities and a robust preclinical pipeline fueled by discoveries in drugging previously inaccessible targets," said Adam Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Antares and former Chief Executive Officer of Scorpion. "We are committed to leveraging our expertise to address well-validated, first-in-class targets across oncology and other serious diseases, and to continuing to execute a fast-to-clinic strategy to bring medicines to patients in need."
"At Omega, we focus on identifying approaches and working with exceptional teams to deliver impactful products to patients," said Otello Stampacchia, Ph.D., Founder and Managing Director at Omega Funds. "Antares meets each of these criteria. As one of the founding investors in Scorpion, we have had the opportunity to follow the company’s evolution very closely and have been consistently impressed by the breadth of the team’s capabilities, as well as their scientific rigor and rapid execution. I look forward to seeing the company’s vision advance by delivering differentiated, first-in-class products to treat some of the most important unmet medical needs."
Additionally, Antares announced that Pierre Fabre Laboratories, with whom Scorpion previously partnered to advance two clinical-stage, highly selective next-generation mutant EGFR inhibitors for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, has acquired global rights to both programs. Under the terms of the agreement, Pierre Fabre Laboratories will lead the continued clinical development and global commercialization of both programs, and Antares will be eligible to receive regulatory and commercial milestones and tiered royalties.