Mirador Therapeutics has launched with more than $400 million through a financing led by ARCH Venture Partners. The start-up aims to “revolutionize precision medicine for immune-mediated inflammatory and fibrotic diseases,” according to their release. They aim to do this by leveraging their proprietary Mirador360 development engine to rapidly advance multiple programs in drug discovery and diagnostics.
Mirador360 is a repository of immune-mediated disease data. The company says the platform is “purpose-built to harmonize millions of patient molecular profiles to discover and validate genetic associations to immuno-fibrotic diseases, identify novel therapeutic targets and elucidate target-target interactions as well as optimal target-target pairs for potential combination therapies.”
The start-up was founded by Mark C. McKenna and led by several former executives of Prometheus Biosciences, which was acquired in 2023 by Merck for $10.8 billion. Prometheus’s focus was also precision medicine for immune-mediated diseases. At the time of the acquisition, its lead candidate was PRA023—a humanized monoclonal antibody (mAb) directed to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-like ligand 1A (TL1A), a target associated with both intestinal inflammation and fibrosis.
“At Mirador, we envision a bold new era of precision medicine for immune-mediated inflammatory and fibrotic diseases driven by speed and superior development accuracy,” said McKenna, chairman and CEO of Mirador.
“The industry has only scratched the surface of utilizing advances in human genetics— coupled with exponential progress in machine learning—to accelerate the development of precision therapies for patients who need them the most. With a proven team, distinguished board of directors, leading healthcare investors and proprietary data-driven approach, we aim to create a leading precision medicine company at scale to provide important new treatment options for patients,” he added.
Autoimmune diseases affect approximately one in ten individuals. The market for this category of diseases is expected to reach $185B over the next five years.
“The I&I field is in need of better, novel therapeutics as well as new R&D approaches that target enriched patient populations for improved probability of success in the clinic,” said Kristina Burow, Mirador board member and managing director of ARCH Venture Partners. “The Mirador team has an outstanding track record of success in precision immunology, and we are well on our way to building a company that will make a lasting impact on the lives of millions of patients suffering from a broad range of immune-mediated inflammatory and fibrotic diseases.”
Mirador’s says it is developing “first-in-class or best-in-class” precision medicines using Mirador360, its proprietary development engine that leverages recent breakthroughs in human genetics and data science. The company says its focus on specific patient genetic targets also allows Mirador to develop diagnostics and stratify heterogeneous patient populations for precise clinical development.
Other investors in Mirador include OrbiMed, Fairmount, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Point72, Farallon Capital Management, Boxer Capital, TCGX, Invus, Logos Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Sanofi Ventures, Woodline Partners LP, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, RTW Investments and Alexandria Venture Investments.
