Stoke Therapeutics Raises $90M to Advance Novel Oligonucleotide Medicines

Bedford-based Stoke Therapeutics has announced it has completed a $90 million Series B financing to advance its pipeline of antisense oligonucleotide medicines for Dravet Syndrome and other severe genetic diseases. Stoke, which launched in 2018 with a $40 million Series A investment, has identified thousands of genes that could be addressed by its proprietary TANGO technology, which targets non-productive RNA splicing to increase gene expression and address the root cause of monogenic diseases caused by loss or reduction of gene function. The company is rapidly advancing its lead program, a therapeutic candidate for Dravet Syndrome and expects to be in the clinic by 2020.

Stoke has also built a robust pipeline of candidates targeting other diseases of the central nervous system, as well as diseases of the eye, ear, liver and kidney. “Our technology is designed to address, for the first time, the genetic cause of diseases like Dravet Syndrome so we can do more than alleviate symptoms – we can potentially prevent the long-term, disabling consequences of these diseases,” said Edward M. Kaye, M.D., Stoke’s chief executive officer. (Source: Stoke Therapeutics website, 23 October, 2018)