Bloomberg Family Office Willett Advisors Throws Cash at Biotechs Including Disc Medicine
Posted on 12/13/2021
Willett Advisors is the family office of Michael Bloomberg, founder of the Bloomberg financial media empire. Willett Advisors is keen on making biotech investments in promising startups. Disc Medicine is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapies for the treatment of serious and debilitating hematologic diseases. Disc Medicine is tasked to finding new therapies for rare blood disorders. Disc Medicine is a hematology company harnessing new insights in hepcidin biology to address ineffective red blood cell production (erythropoiesis) in hematologic diseases. Disc Medicine spun out of Atlas Venture in late 2019.
In September 2021, Disc Medicine raised US$ 90 million Series B financing. The financing was led by OrbiMed with participation from new investors Arix Bioscience plc, Janus Henderson Investors, 5AM Ventures, Rock Springs Capital, hedge fund Nantahala Capital Management, LLC, Willett Advisors, and Alexandria Venture Investments. Existing investors also participated in the financing, including Atlas Venture, Novo Holdings, and Access Biotechnology. The proceeds of the financing will be used to advance the development of Disc’s hematology pipeline of therapeutic candidates. This includes conducting a phase 2 study of its lead program bitopertin, an oral, clinical-stage GlyT1 inhibitor with potential to become the first disease-modifying treatment for erythropoietic porphyrias (EP), a family of rare and debilitating genetic disorders caused by dysregulated heme synthesis. It will also support a phase 2 clinical study of DISC-0974, an anti-hemojuvelin (HJV) monoclonal antibody designed to suppress hepcidin, to treat myelofibrosis patients with transfusion-dependent anemia. DISC-0974 is currently being studied in a phase 1 clinical trial of healthy volunteers, and the company expects to report data later this year. The company intends to expand clinical development of both programs and plans to initiate clinical studies in additional hematologic disorders. DISC-0974 is an investigational, first-in-class monoclonal antibody designed to suppress hepcidin production by inhibiting the hemojuvelin (HJV) co-receptor, a highly selective and critical target of the hepcidin pathway. Hepcidin is the primary regulatory hormone of iron homeostasis and plays a central role by restricting iron absorption and preventing deployment from internal iron stores.