Life Biosciences, a Boston longevity biotech co-founded by Harvard genetics professor David Sinclair, has locked down an $80 million Series D to push its partial epigenetic reprogramming work out of the lab and into human trials. The April 8 financing is slated to underwrite the company’s first-in-human ER-100 Phase 1 study in optic neuropathies and to move other programs across its platform along the pipeline.
Funding To Back Phase 1 Trial
The company described the round as fully subscribed and said the cash should keep operations running into the second half of 2027 while covering completion of the ER-100 trial. The therapy uses partial epigenetic reprogramming with OCT4, SOX2 and KLF4 in an effort to rejuvenate retinal ganglion cells, according to Life Biosciences.
“We are encouraged by the strong participation in this financing, which reflects the growing interest in our platform,” Chief Executive Jerry McLaughlin said in a company statement, per Life Biosciences. The company said the new capital supports the recently launched Phase 1 trial along with its broader partial epigenetic reprogramming research programs.
From Lab To First-In-Human Tests
Life Biosciences licensed its reprogramming approach from Harvard and moved from animal studies toward human research after the FDA cleared its investigational new drug application for ER-100 in January, as reported by Fortune. That outlet noted the company is taking a staged route, starting with the eye as a focused test case before pursuing wider indications for partial epigenetic reprogramming.
Trial Details And Timeline
The Phase 1 study (NCT07290244) - registered on ClinicalTrials.gov - is designed to assess safety, tolerability and several measures of visual function in people with open-angle glaucoma and non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy. Life Biosciences has cast the eye program as an organ-specific pilot for a platform it ultimately wants to apply to multiple age-related conditions.
What It Means For Boston
The raise is another sign that investor appetite for Boston life-sciences companies is perking up after a rocky 2025, when venture funding slowed and bigger but more disciplined deals began to return, according to reporting by The Boston Globe. Longevity science is still a high-risk, high-reward corner of the local cluster, and this financing could help keep Life Biosciences on track while it generates early human safety data.
The raise was first reported by Boston Business Journal, with additional detail provided in the company’s April 8 materials. As ER-100 moves through human testing, both investors and researchers will be watching those safety readouts and any early efficacy signals very closely.
