Day One Raises $130 Million to Accelerate New Targeted Cancer Treatments for Children

Rare Daily Staff

Day One Biopharmaceuticals said it raised $130 million in a series B financing to accelerate new targeted therapies for children and adults with cancer.

RA Capital Management led the financing with participation from new investors Boxer Capital, BVF Partners, Franklin Templeton, Janus Henderson Investors, Perceptive Advisors, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, and Viking Global Investors. Existing investors Canaan, Access Biotechnology, and Atlas Venture also participated.

Day One developing new cancer treatments for patients of all ages, with a focus on children. Proceeds from the series B financing will allow Day One to accelerate and expand its search and evaluation capabilities, support drug development efforts and continue advancing commercial launch plans for the company’s lead program, DAY101. With the completion of the series B financing, Day One has raised more than $190 million from leading life science investors since the company initiated operations in late 2019.

DAY101 is designed as a first-in-class, oral, brain-penetrant, highly selective type II pan-RAF kinase inhibitor. The company has initiated the pivotal phase 2 FIREFLY-1 study with DAY101 in pediatric low-grade glioma (pLGG), which is the most common form of childhood brain cancer and has no approved therapies. In addition, Day One plans to initiate an adult solid tumor study to further evaluate DAY101 in patients with RAF-altered tumors for which there are no currently approved therapies.

DAY101 has been granted Breakthrough Therapy designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of pediatric patients with low-grade glioma harboring an activating RAF alteration who have progressed after one or more prior systemic therapies. DAY101 has also received Orphan Drug designation from the FDA for the treatment of malignant glioma.

“Day One was founded to solve a critical unmet need: children are being left behind during a cancer treatment revolution,” said Jeremy Bender, CEO of Day One. “The completion of this financing will enable us to accelerate and expand our efforts even further.”

In association with the financing, Derek DiRocco, partner of RA Capital Management, joined the Day One board of directors.

Photo: Jeremy Bender, CEO of Day One