Stoke Therapeutics Completes $90 Million Financing

Rare Daily Staff

Stoke Therapeutics said that it has completed a $90 million financing to advance its pipeline of antisense drugs for Dravet Syndrome and other genetic diseases.

RTW Investments led the financing round with participation from founding investor Apple Tree Partners. New investors include RA Capital Management, Cormorant Asset Management, Perceptive Advisors, funds managed by Janus Henderson Investors, Redmile Group, Sphera Funds Management, and Alexandria Venture Investments.

Roderick Wong of RTW Investments, Matthew Hammond of RA Capital, and Bihua Chen of Cormorant Asset Management joined the Stoke board of directors as observers.

Stoke has identified thousands of genes that could be addressed by its proprietary TANGO technology, which targets non-productive RNA splicing to increase gene expression and address the root cause of monogenic diseases caused by loss or reduction of gene function.

The company is advancing its lead program, a therapeutic candidate for Dravet Syndrome, and expects to be in the clinic by early 2020. Stoke has also built a pipeline of candidates targeting other diseases of the central nervous system, as well as diseases of the eye, ear, liver, and kidney.

“Our technology is designed to address, for the first time, the genetic cause of diseases like Dravet Syndrome so we can do more than alleviate symptoms. We can potentially prevent the long-term disabling consequences of these diseases,” said Edward Kaye, CEO of Stoke Therapeutics. “We are delighted to have the support of such an outstanding group of crossover investors to speed our progress toward the clinic.”