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Curi Bio Secures $10M Series B to Scale Human-Relevant Preclinical Platforms and Advanced Data Analysis for Drug Discovery

via Business Wire

Financing led by DreamCIS will accelerate and expand development of the company's industry-leading integrated platform, combining human iPSC-derived cells, advanced biosystems, and functional data analysis to de-risk and accelerate therapeutic development.

Curi Bio, a leader in delivering human-relevant functional data for drug discovery and development, today announced the close of a $10 million Series B financing round. The round was led by DreamCIS, the leading contract research organization based in Seoul, South Korea, offering comprehensive services for clinical research and regulatory affairs. This strategic partnership is poised to accelerate the translation of Curi Bio's human-relevant platforms into global clinical success.

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Curi Bio Secures $10M Series B to Scale Human-Relevant Preclinical Platforms and Advanced Data Analysis for Drug Discovery

Curi Bio Secures $10M Series B to Scale Human-Relevant Preclinical Platforms and Advanced Data Analysis for Drug Discovery

The new capital will be used to scale Curi Bio’s integrated platforms featuring human iPSC-derived cells, tissue-specific biosystems, and advanced data analysis. The investment will directly accelerate the development of new platforms for cardiac, skeletal muscle, metabolic, smooth muscle, and neuromuscular diseases and expand Curi Bio’s commercial reach across the globe.

“Curi has seen great success in de-risking our client’s drug development and manufacturing. The data we deliver have been critical in guiding candidate selection, getting our clients to IND, and driving decisions on potency; all using advanced human functional models that surpass legacy animal models in precision and accuracy,” said Nicholas A. Geisse, PhD, CEO of Curi Bio. “This investment enables us to aggressively scale our integrated platforms, providing our biopharma partners with predictive, functional data on human systems across a variety of devastating diseases like muscle metabolism and wasting, neuromuscular diseases like ALS, cardiac indications, and beyond. The data we deliver to our clients through our products and services ultimately de-risks their R&D pipelines and accelerates the development of safer, more effective medicines for patients.”

Elliot Fisher, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer of Curi Bio added: “This investment reflects a clear industry shift: drug developers are demanding human-relevant functional data earlier, because traditional animal and 2D models aren’t predicting human outcomes. Curi has spent nearly a decade commercializing the platforms needed to close that gap. With this capital, we can scale those platforms globally and help biopharma make faster, better-informed decisions that improve the odds of clinical success.”

Bridging the Preclinical-Clinical Gap

Curi Bio is tackling drug development's greatest challenge: high clinical trial failure rates and the enormous time and cost required to bring a new therapeutic to market. The company’s bioengineered approach provides clinically-relevant, human data far earlier in the discovery process.

This unique, three-pronged platform strategy integrates:

  1. Human Cells: High-purity, next-generation human iPSC-derived cells.
  2. Advanced Systems: Biosystems that mature cells into 3D engineered tissues and measure complex functional data.
  3. Advanced Data Analysis: In-depth analysis that uncovers key functional phenotypic insights, allowing for deeper, more predictive screening.

“We are thrilled to partner with DreamCIS, who shares our conviction that drug discovery urgently needs more human-relevant data at the preclinical stage. The vast majority of new drugs fail in human clinical trials because preclinical animal and 2D cell models have failed to be good predictors of human outcomes,” said Michael Cho, JD, Chief Strategy Officer at Curi Bio.

“Curi Bio’s unique integration of cells, systems, and data is a paradigm shift for preclinical drug discovery,” said Jeounghee Yoo, CEO of DreamCIS. “We were incredibly impressed by the company's innovative platforms and their ability to generate functional data from 3D human tissues at scale. This technology provides the predictive power that pharma companies desperately need to improve R&D productivity. We believe Curi Bio is perfectly positioned to become the gold standard in this rapidly growing market, and we are excited to support their journey.”

About Curi Bio

Curi Bio unlocks novel workflows and delivers functional human data to inform biopharmaceutical R&D decision making. Through an integrated platform featuring advanced 3D tissue models of disease, biosystems enabling clinically relevant functional analyses, and advanced automated data analysis, Curi Bio blends functional and analytical assessments for drug safety, efficacy, and potency. By offering leading global pharmaceutical end users an integrated preclinical platform along with highly predictive human stem cell tissue models to generate clinically-relevant data, Curi Bio is bridging the gap between preclinical R&D and clinical outcomes, accelerating the discovery and development of safer, more effective medicines. For more information, please visit www.curibio.com.

About DreamCIS

Established in April 2000, DreamCIS is a Korean Contract Research Organization (CRO) providing comprehensive R&D services to biopharmaceutical companies, including clinical trial operations, post-marketing surveillance, and data management. Since listing on the KOSDAQ in 2020, DreamCIS has expanded its business through strategic acquisitions, including MediTip, a leading Korean regulatory affairs consulting company, and LCS, a preclinical consulting company. In collaboration with its parent company Tigermed, DreamCIS offers a one-stop, full-scope suite of clinical trial services spanning the entire duration of new drug development. For more information, please visit https://www.dreamcis.com/home/.

"This investment enables us to aggressively scale our integrated platforms, providing our biopharma partners with predictive, functional data on human systems across a variety of devastating diseases." – Dr. Nicholas Geisse, CEO at Curi Bio

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