South San Francisco-based Lycia Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapeutics designed to degrade disease-causing extracellular proteins, has closed an oversubscribed USD 75 million Series D financing round to advance its LYTAC pipeline toward early clinical proof of concept. The round signals continued investor confidence in lysosomal targeting as a strategy for depleting pathogenic extracellular proteins in autoimmune and allergic disease.
The Series D was co-led by existing investor Janus Henderson Investors and new investor Balyasny Asset Management, with additional new participation from Adage Capital Management, HBM Healthcare Investments, and OrbiMed. Existing investors Eli Lilly and Company, Franklin Templeton, Invus, RTW Investments, and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners also continued their support. The company said proceeds will fund clinical development of its two lead programs, LCA-0061 and LCA-0321, and advance its broader pipeline of cataLYTAC degraders toward the clinic. No prior funding history was disclosed in the announcement beyond the Series D designation.
Lycia's proprietary LYTAC (Lysosomal Targeting Chimera) platform is designed to generate degraders that direct disease-causing extracellular proteins to the lysosome for elimination. The company's cataLYTAC format is engineered for catalytic, repeated elimination of target proteins — a distinction the company argues could support more durable target depletion than stoichiometric antibody-based approaches. The platform was established in collaboration with Carolyn Bertozzi, Nobel laureate and professor of chemistry and HHMI investigator at Stanford University.
The company's lead asset, LCA-0061, is a cataLYTAC degrader targeting immunoglobulin E (IgE) for food allergy and other allergic diseases. Elevated IgE is a central driver of allergic responses, and its depletion represents a mechanistically distinct approach from existing anti-IgE antibodies such as omalizumab, which neutralize circulating IgE without catalytic recycling. The second program, LCA-0321, is a LYTAC degrader designed to selectively deplete thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor autoantibodies (TRAbs), the pathogenic immunoglobulins responsible for Graves' disease. Both programs are described as advancing toward Phase I clinical proof-of-concept following promising preclinical data.