Blueprint Medicines closes $25 million Series B financing

Blueprint Medicines today announced the completion of a $25 million Series B financing. The oncology-focused investor, Nextech Invest Ltd., led the round, which also included founding investors Third Rock Ventures and Fidelity Biosciences as well as public investors Biotech Value Fund, L.P., Casdin Capital, LLC and other undisclosed investors.

"The strong team of leaders and scientific founders behind Blueprint Medicines have successfully built a product engine and resulting product-candidate pipeline that brings to life the vision of treating patients based on specific genomic drivers of cancer. We believe this approach is core to the future of oncology therapy with the promise of significantly improving survival while minimizing toxicities for patients," said Thilo Schroeder, Ph.D. of Nextech Invest Ltd. "Blueprint Medicines stands out for its high quality science and early track record for successful execution."

Blueprint's lead programs include the first known selective inhibitors of the KIT D816V mutation, which is the genomic driver of the underserved systemic mastocystosis patient population, as well as a key genomically defined subset of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). The Company's pipeline also includes the first known isoform-selective FGFR4 inhibitors for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma with FGF19 amplification, the first clear genomic driver in liver cancer, and other tumors. Blueprint expects to initiate clinical trials for these programs in 2015.

"The Blueprint team is aggressively advancing our pipeline of selective, genomically defined product candidates," said Alexis Borisy, president and interim chief executive officer of Blueprint Medicines. "Given our approach of selective compounds to clear genomic drivers, with the resources provided to us through this financing, we will be able to move forward into the clinic and rapidly establish clinical proof-of-concept in well-defined patient populations. These product candidates will be developed as single agents in late-stage and resistant patient populations, and in combinations with other targeted agents and modalities in earlier lines of therapy."

SOURCE Blueprint Medicines