Cardurion Pharmaceuticals, a startup that launched seven years ago with shelved cardiovascular drug candidates from Takeda Pharmaceuticals, has raised $260 million for a Series B round.
The financing was led by Ascenta Capital, a new VC firm that has quietly begun leading biotech investment deals while raising its first fund. Ascenta was started last year by Moderna’s former finance chief Lorence Kim and former head of strategy Evan Rachlin.
In one of the firm’s first interviews, Rachlin said that he and Kim — both of whom left Moderna between four and five years ago to work at investment firms like Third Rock Ventures and Blackstone Life Sciences — felt compelled to create an investment firm that was more patient- and operator-centric. Before Ascenta makes an investment in a startup, the founders take the entire team, including administrative staff, to meet with patients with the diseases that the startup is working on. “You’ve got to pull from the patients. It sounds redundant, but I’m a doc. I took an oath,” he said.
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