Surf Bio announced today that it raised $16 million in seed funding to advance its drug delivery offerings for treating diabetes.
Palo Alto, California-based Surf Bio plans to use the funds to advance its polymer-based drug delivery platform and accelerate the development of ultra-rapid insulin for treating diabetes.
According to a news release, Breakout Ventures and the Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund (PXV) co-led the financing. Additionally, Surf Bio added Breakout Ventures Managing Partner Lindy Fishburne and PXV Partner Ben Askew to its board of directors. They join current members and founders, Bryan Mazlish — a co-founder of Bigfoot Biomedical — and former Livongo CMO and Mode AGC co-founder Dr. Jennifer Schneider.
“Surf Bio’s novel stabilization platform holds the promise to enable pharmaceutical formulations that are not currently possible with today’s technologies,” Mazlish, Surf Bio’s co-founder and CEO said in the release. “Our technology enhances the stability of a broad set of biologics including peptides, vaccines, and monoclonal antibodies to retain or optimize desired pharmaceutical properties at higher concentrations and higher temperatures. This should enable favorably differentiated products that create new opportunities for how biologics are delivered in the future.”
The company said it has established a number of collaborations with leading pharmaceutical companies. The company’s demonstrated in-vitro and in-vivo safety and efficacy data has generated significant interest from partners, the company noted. Initial applications for the technology include increasing concentrations and reducing refrigeration dependence along with enabling hard-to-formulate therapeutics.
“Surf Bio’s technology sits at the intersection of engineering, chemistry, and pharmaceutical development,” Fishburne said. “We are pleased to support the company as it advances its broadly applicable formulation technology across a range of therapeutic areas for the potentially large positive impact it may have on human health.”
