Carmot Therapeutics

12 April 2010. San Francisco, CA.

Carmot Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that it has closed a Series A financing from The Column Group, a leading venture capital firm with a focus on early stage drug discovery companies. Carmot will use the capital to advance its proprietary drug-discovery platform, Chemotype Evolution, a novel lead finding technology that employs target-directed compound libraries generated through a unique fragment-assembly approach.

Earlier this year Carmot received an exclusive license from Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNSS) for Chemotype Evolution. The technology platform, which was invented by Carmot co-founders Stig K. Hansen and Daniel A. Erlanson while at Sunesis, is being used to identify promising drug candidates in a broad range of therapeutic areas. “We’re very excited to be working with The Column Group,” said Hansen and Erlanson. “The group’s deep scientific and operational expertise will be a tremendous resource as we industrialize the technology and deploy it to discover first-in-class drugs.”

Carmot has previously received grants from the National Science Foundation and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, but this is its first private round of funding. The Column Group’s Magnus Persson and Tim Kutzkey will join Hansen and Erlanson on the Carmot board. The company is currently located in the QB3 Mission Bay Incubator Network.

The Column Group is a leading venture capital firm dedicated to creating the next generation of biotechnology companies, each with the potential to become a leader in their respective fields. These companies will be strongly supported by The Column Group's unique and complementary skill sets, which include prominent authorities in the scientific, operational and financial arenas. The Column Group seeks to partner with exceptional scientific founders, entrepreneurs, executives and investment organizations that share its vision for building the next generation of drug discovery and development companies.

For more information about Chemotype Evolution, click here.

Contact information: info@carmot.us