San Francisco startup Alumis Inc. has raised $259 million in a bid to best big pharma’s work in plaque psoriasis.
Alumis announced its Series C round Wednesday and plans to move its lead drug into Phase 3 trials. Venture firm Foresite Capital, which incubated Alumis, co-led the financing with Samsara BioCapital and venBio Partners.
Alumis’ lead drug, ESK-001, is an oral medicine designed to help patients with the most common type of psoriasis by inhibiting a signaling protein called TYK2. Research has shown that the TYK2 protein plays a role in diseases where the immune system overreacts, which has made it a popular drug target in recent years.