Be Biopharma ("Be Bio"), a leader in developing B cells as medicines, founded by Longwood Fund, David Rawlings, MD, and Richard James, PhD, today announced a $52 million Series A financing led by Atlas Venture and RA Capital Management and joined by Alta Partners, Longwood Fund and Takeda Ventures, Inc. The company plans to use this funding to precisely engineer B cells to treat a range of diseases, building on the pioneering work of Drs. Rawlings and James at Seattle Children's Research Institute. B cells are prolific protein producers that can be collected from peripheral blood, have a programmable lifetime that could last decades, can target specific tissues, and have broad, customizable functionality.

Be Biopharma is a leader in developing B cells as medicines, treating disease with the human body's native protein factories. We precisely engineer B cells to harness their intrinsic drug-like properties - remarkable protein production, selective tissue targeting, and fine control of their cellular environment - to forge a new category of cell therapy. These medicines are designed to be durable, re-dosable and administered without toxic conditioning, creating new avenues to halt or reverse severe diseases like cancer, autoimmune conditions, and enzyme deficiency. Founded by Longwood Fund and B cell engineering pioneers David Rawlings, MD, and Richard James, PhD, Be Biopharma is re-imagining medicine based on the power of B cell therapy (bebiopharma.com).