Schrödinger launches immunology drug developer Tectora, raises $55 million

Schrödinger has launched Tectora Therapeutics, a drug developer focused on immune and inflammatory diseases, and raised $55 million in Series A financing.

According to U.S. biotech publication Fierce Biotech on the 9th, Schrödinger announced the launch of the startup Tectora Therapeutics that day. Tectora secured $55 million in Series A funding at launch.

Schrödinger contributed two early-stage small-molecule programs to the launch. In return, it received an equity stake in Tectora and the right to receive future milestone payments and royalties.

Tectora plans to work with Schrödinger’s drug development experts and use Schrödinger’s computing platform to advance drug candidates into clinical development.

Karen Akinsanya, Schrödinger’s president of therapeutics research and development (R&D), told Fierce Biotech, “Schrödinger is a software company, but it holds stakes in a number of quite exciting programs, and this launch is an extension of that,” adding, “We plan to continue expanding these discovery collaborations.”

Tectora will focus on developing differentiated oral therapies for immune and inflammatory diseases and will operate in stealth mode. The specific indications for the two programs Schrödinger transferred, SDGR-4594 and SDGR-8139, have not been disclosed, but both compounds were identified using Schrödinger’s computing platform.

According to Akinsanya, Schrödinger’s approach centers on a physics-based computational chemistry platform. The platform can predict potency, selectivity, solubility and permeability, and is based on atomistic modeling, which studies molecular behavior by tracking individual atoms, the basic units of matter.

Akinsanya said, “The purpose of this launch is to dedicate capital to the future development of SDGR-4594 and SDGR-8139 and to have a dedicated team of experts to support the scientific rationale for the programs.”

New York-based Schrödinger has a track record of founding and building biotech companies. Nimbus Therapeutics, named to Fierce Biotech’s “Fierce 15” in 2013, signed a $1.3 billion deal with Eli Lilly for an oral obesity drug and sold its tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) program, zasocitinib, to Takeda for $4 billion.

In July 2024, Eli Lilly acquired Schrödinger’s Morphic for $3.2 billion. Ajax Therapeutics, which Schrödinger co-founded in 2019, was also recently acquired by Eli Lilly in a deal worth up to $2.3 billion.