Series A funding to expand Wheeler Bio OK drug substance plant

Wheeler Bio has closed a Series A financing round, which it says will fund the expansion of its biologics drug substance facility in Oklahoma.

Wheeler Bio, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) that uses its open-source platform, Portable CMC, to produce clinical batches of biologics and reagents says the financing round, led by Charles River Laboratories and various others, will expand its facility in the Ziggurat building in Oklahoma City.

According to the CDMO, it is solving “the momentum drop” between discovery and development. It dubs this as an early “translation gap,” which poses substantial challenges across emerging biotech companies and adds financial, technical, and regulatory risks. Wheeler Bio says that this gap can be decreased through democratization and partnering of standardized production platforms.

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Wheeler claims that its Oklahoma facility has numerous advantages, including lower business costs, a ready biomanufacturing team, a training network consisting of 16 technology centers, 18 public and private universities, medical and aerospace research centers.

Specific details of the expansion remain under wraps, but Wheeler said that it will continue to build a business model that connects biologics discovery technologies with open-source biomanufacturing platforms for clinical trial material through strategic partnership with firms like Alloy Therapeutics and ATUM.

“Alloy is building an innovative drug discovery ecosystem to empower the global scientific community to make better medicines together. A key part of that is our venture studio, 82VS, which supports the efficient launch of next generation medicines companies. We are excited about our partnership with Wheeler, which connects our brilliant scientists and entrepreneurs to high quality, pre-competitive small batch manufacturing — ultimately enabling them to move more quickly to the clinic,” said Errik Anderson, CEO at Alloy Therapeutics.

The amount raised in its Series A has not been divulged.

The company closed a $14 million Seed financing round back in January. Meanwhile, the firm recently brought in industry stalwart Roger Lias as president and chief operating officer.