Blend Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company discovering new classes of drugs to treat cancer and other diseases, recently closed a $16 million Series B financing and appointed Mark Iwicki, the former head of Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, its new president and CEO.

Founded by Omid Farokhzad of Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS), and Robert S. Langer, Jr. and Stephen J. Lippard of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Blend brings together a new-molecule drug discovery engine and its patented nanoparticle engineering platform to develop innovative drugs.  The company’s initial focus is on anti-cancer therapies that uniquely target tumors with the potential for improved potency, reduced toxicities and lower resistance.

The Foley Hoag team representing Blend in the financing and CEO hiring was led by Jeffrey Quillen and Michelle Limaj.  Blend was incubated in Foley Hoag’s Emerging Enterprise Center before moving into its office and lab space in Watertown in January 2012.

NanoDimension led the Series B financing, with participation from other existing investors Flagship Ventures and New Enterprise Associates.

Blend Therapeutics plans to use the proceeds from the financing to advance the company’s lead products toward investigational new drug applications with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration  and to expand the company’s product-development and business-development teams.

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