Sana Biotechnology Announces Completion of $700M Initial Financing

Sana Biotechnology, focused on engineering cells as medicines for patients, raised $700M through all tranches of its Series A round. Investors included ARCH Venture Partners, Flagship Pioneering, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Baillie Gifford, F-Prime Capital, Alaska Permanent Fund, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, Bezos Expeditions, GV, Omega Funds, Altitude Life Science Ventures, and multiple unnamed institutional investors. Proceeds will be used to advance discovery and development within the company’s core platforms, including gene delivery, immunology, stem cell biology, and gene modification and control. Some approaches include in vivo delivery of genetic payloads to specific cells, ex vivo genetic modifications that hide allogeneic cells from a patient’s immune system, and applying stem cell biology to make differentiated cells to replace missing or damaged tissue. Funds will also support IND-enabling and initial clinical studies for multiple therapeutic candidates, buildout of manufacturing capabilities, and expansion of the company’s portfolio of enabling technologies. The company was formed in 2019 with technology licensed from Harvard University to further its efforts to develop off-the-shelf cell therapies.