Emerging from stealth, the California-based firm will deal in developing targeted therapies for patients with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The Series A funding, which was led by the firm’s founding partner Versant Ventures, brought in $43 million, followed by a Series B round by GV raising the rest of the amount.
“Precision medicines offer the ability to target defined cell types and pathways to disrupt the pathogenic biology driving disease,” said Peter Emtage, CEO, Santa Ana.
“By identifying pathogenic cell types and pathways, and leveraging our deep protein engineering capabilities including monoclonal, bi-specific antibodies and antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), we aim to expand the reach of biologics to patients across numerous inflammatory diseases.”
The firm has three antibody-based programs – SAB01, SAB03, and SAB05 – ready for launch in 2025. Designed to treat allergic diseases, SAB01 is effective against mast cells, said the firm. It is due to enter Phase I clinical trial next year and is a treatment against chronic inducible urticaria.
Meanwhile, SAB03 is a clinically validated target in rheumatoid arthritis, which is said to eliminate and suppress high, medium and low expressing PD-1 pathogenic T cells. And SAB05 is an ADC program using glucocorticoids to establish therapeutic efficacy.
The firm will use proteomics, transcriptomics, and genomics to identify and treat disease-causing cell types, salvaging healthy cells. This approach aims to overcome the limitations of current treatments, such as varying patient responses, treatment durability, and safety concerns.
“Each of Santa Ana’s programs builds upon clinical precedent, yet provides important differentiation from past approaches,” said Jerel Davis, MD at Versant and board chair of Santa Ana. “Given the breadth of these programs and pipeline, Santa Ana clearly has optionality to advance these promising internal programs and to pursue partnerships.”
The firm did not respond when contacted by this publication.
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