A new RNA biotech has risen with a $200 million series A in the tank and a team of seasoned biotech chefs ready to light the burners. Soufflé Therapeutics will cook up siRNA medicines that are targeted and cell-specific, the newly hatched company said in an Oct. 7 LinkedIn post.
Soufflé is a Langer family affair, with Moderna maverick Robert Langer co-founding the new company and his daughter Susan Langer serving as founding president and chief business officer. Langer’s son Michael, who recently launched a new biotech venture capital firm with support from his father, confirmed Soufflé’s $200 million series A in a separate LinkedIn post.
In total, Soufflé has secured more than $3.5 billion in fundraising and partnerships, according to the company’s post.
That roster of partners includes several Big Pharma names including AbbVie, Amgen, Bayer and Novo Nordisk, according to Soufflé’s website. Investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, Arch Venture Partners, Vida Ventures and Polaris Partners, among others.
Soufflé plans to hit the clinic in 2026, with lead programs focusing on metabolism, facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy and cardiomyopathies caused by mutations in the phospholamban gene alongside a suite of other preclinical programs.
“Proud to lift the lid today on the amazing work we are doing at Soufflé Therapeutics,” CEO Amir Nashat, Ph.D., an experienced biotech leader and veteran of Langer’s MIT lab, wrote in his own LinkedIn post. “We share a bold vision that potent, precise and safe medicines can be designed and developed for all diseases. I am honored to lead this talented team alongside my colleagues.”
Rounding out Soufflé’s kitchen are Vadim Dudkin, Ph.D., chief technology officer and a practiced RNA medicine developer formerly with Merck and Johnson & Johnson; Roman Bogorad, Ph.D., as senior vice president of discovery biology; and Third Rock Ventures vet Mark Angelino, Ph.D., as chief strategy and operating officer, among others.
Robert Langer’s fellow Soufflé founders, as well as the biotech's investors, are some of the same scientists and backers who helped create Alnylam Therapeutics and CRISPR Therapeutics, including Victor Kotelianski, M.D., Ph.D., who previously served as founding SVP of research at Alnylam.