Johnson & Johnson CVC
US PlayGround as well
[This article was reported on "Radar M," a paid media outlet specializing in the capital market in Mail Business, on July 16 (15:03)]
Fraser Therapeutics, a developer of innovative new drugs based on targeted proteolysis (TPD), announced on the 16th that it has completed attracting a total of 50 billion won worth of equity investment (PreIPO).
All existing investors, including JJDC, CVC of global pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Woori Venture Partners, Company K Partners, Smilegate Investment, Premier Partners and K2 Investment, participated in follow-up investments.
Playground Global, a Silicon Valley-based VC specializing in deep tech worth 2 trillion won, has joined as a new lead investor.
In addition, Shinhan Asset Management was also listed as a new shareholder. Mirae Asset Securities and Hana Securities, the listing organizers, also participated as investments in common stock.
Playground Global, a new lead investment company, is a house founded by Silicon Valley engineers, including Android co-founder and Apple QuickTime developer.
The company plans to invest the large amount of funds raised this time in the advancement of SPiDEM, its own TPD platform, clinical entry into key new drug pipelines in degenerative brain diseases, anticancer and immune diseases, and development of SPiDEM-based DAC payloads.
Meanwhile, Fraser Therapeutics, founded in 2019, has its own target protein degradation agent development platform "SPiDEM" that utilizes two proteasomes and lysosomes in cells according to their target.
Through this, it effectively targets protein aggregates or membrane proteins that were difficult to access with existing TPD technology. In particular, it has successfully derived a low-molecular compound candidate with excellent penetration of the brain vessel barrier (BBB), which is the core of the treatment of degenerative brain diseases.
Based on this, the company is currently actively conducting joint research to develop innovative new drugs in partnership with global Big Pharma.
