Lycia Therapeutics raises $75m Series D for LYTAC pipeline

Lycia Therapeutics has closed a $75 million Series D financing, saying the round was oversubscribed and will fund its two lead candidates through early clinical proof-of-concept. The South San Francisco company also named Amy Bachrodt as Chief Financial Officer and promoted Karen Flick to General Counsel.

The round was co-led by existing investor Janus Henderson Investors and new entrant Balyasny Asset Management. Additional new participants included Adage Capital Management, HBM Healthcare Investments and OrbiMed. Existing backers Eli Lilly, Franklin Templeton, Invus, RTW Investments and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners also contributed.

The pipeline

Proceeds will support two programmes built on Lycia's proprietary LYTAC (Lysosomal Targeting Chimera) platform. LCA-0061 is a cataLYTAC degrader designed to eliminate immunoglobulin E, the antibody class central to allergic responses, making it a candidate for food allergy and related conditions. LCA-0321 targets thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor autoantibodies for the treatment of Graves' disease, a common cause of hyperthyroidism. Both are advancing toward Phase 1, with proof-of-concept data the stated near-term milestone.

President and chief executive Aetna Wun Trombley said the company aims to demonstrate Phase 1 clinical proof-of-concept in patients, adding that the broader goal is to "redefine treatment for patients living with chronic autoimmune, inflammatory and allergic diseases."

Vish Sridharan, assistant portfolio manager at Janus Henderson, described Lycia's degraders as a "potentially best-in-class option" for immune-mediated conditions, citing their mechanism of selective protein depletion. The company said Lycia was established in collaboration with Nobel laureate Carolyn Bertozzi of Stanford University, whose foundational work on glycan chemistry underpins the LYTAC approach.

Market context

The targeted protein degradation field has expanded rapidly in recent years, with the bulk of attention historically directed at intracellular targets via proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) and molecular glues. Lycia's extracellular focus differentiates it from that dominant current, targeting secreted and cell-surface proteins that intracellular degraders cannot reach. Competitors pursuing extracellular degradation strategies include a number of academic spinouts and early-stage companies, though the space remains less crowded than its intracellular counterpart.

The autoimmune and allergy indication set also has commercial appeal. Biologics targeting IgE, including established monoclonal antibodies used in severe asthma and chronic urticaria, have demonstrated the pathway's commercial viability; a degrader approach that catalytically and repeatedly eliminates IgE rather than simply blocking it could offer a differentiated pharmacological profile, assuming clinical data bear out the preclinical signals. Graves' disease, meanwhile, has limited approved options beyond thyroid ablation and symptomatic management, representing a meaningful unmet need.

Bachrodt brings 18 years of biotech finance experience, most recently as senior vice president of finance at Maze Therapeutics, where she contributed to the company's 2025 IPO and helped raise more than $1 billion across financing types. Flick, who joined Lycia in 2025 from Allakos, has nearly 25 years of legal experience spanning intellectual property, governance and corporate law. Both appointments signal that Lycia is building out the executive infrastructure typically associated with a company preparing for a public markets path.