Concerto Will Advance Development of Microbial Products and Expand Pipeline to Address Human Illness
Tokyo, November 7, 2022 – Japan’s Corundum Systems Biology Inc. participated in the Series A funding that successfully raised USD23 million for Concerto Biosciences, a US biotechnology company making discoveries in microbial combinations to treat disease. Concerto will use the funds to advance product development based on designing microbial communities that restore deficient microbiomes. It will also expand its pipeline for products in medicine and agriculture. As an initial step, it will allocate funds for clinical studies for “Ensemble No. 2,” Concerto’s first microbial product, which aims to correct the microbial deficiency underlying atopic dermatitis.
The funding round was led by Safar Partners and included, among other investors, Horizons Ventures and M Ventures, the venture capital arm of Merck KGaA (Germany).
“There is a strong and exciting future for Concerto’s aspiration to reinvent the way humanity interacts with microbes,” said Hidehiko Otake, CEO of Corundum Systems Biology of its decision to invest. “The potential is enormous. Already, Concerto’s approach to harness the benefits that microbes bring to human health is bringing about concrete results. We are delighted to support its advancements.”
‘Ensemble No. 2’ (ENS-002) is Concerto’s first microbial product and it is designed to rehabilitate the skin microbiome. “By taming the pathogenic behaviors of Staphylococcus aureus, ENS-002 may decrease the frequency and severity of eczema flares,” said Dr Jared Kehe, Chief Scientific Officer of Concerto.
The product naming derives from Concerto’s focus on discovering optimally performing
microbial combinations – ensembles. This is done through very rapid phenotypic screening that Concerto’s foundational discovery platform, ‘kChip,’ is readily able to perform. Invented by Dr Kehe and CEO of Concerto Biosciences, Dr Cheri Ackerman, kChip is an ultra-high throughput platform that serves at the core of Concerto’s microbial screening discoveries.
“The investment from Corundum and our new investors allows us to look proactively at a broad range of issues rooted in dysfunctioning microbial ecosystems beyond our first product to address skin illness,” said Dr Ackerman. “It will also allow us to seek biotech and pharma companies with whom we can collaborate to discover a suite of ensembles that could transform industries as diverse as healthcare, agriculture, and household products.”
Concerto Biosciences was founded in 2020 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by three scientists
— Dr Ackerman, Dr Kehe and Dr Bernardo Cervantes — who shared a passion for unearthing the secrets of microbial ecology.
Corundum Systems Biology, founded in 2020 in Tokyo, Japan, comprises business advisors, investors and analysts who envision the microbiome as a critical field for unlocking next-generation life science technologies that can enhance human health and quality of life.
Contact: marketing@csb.co.jp
Public Relations, Corundum Systems Biology Inc. (03)5404-8590
About Concerto Biosciences
Concerto Biosciences, launched in 2020 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, aspires to reinvent the way humanity interacts with microbes. Since its founding, Concerto has assembled a human skin microbe biobank and measured over 6 million interactions using kChip, its foundational platform. This in turn led to the discovery of an ensemble that corrects the microbial deficiency underlying atopic dermatitis. Beyond its initial work to address skin illness with microbes, the company is expanding kChip’s scale and capabilities to address a broader range of issues rooted in dysfunctioning microbial ecosystems. www.concertobio.com.
About Corundum Systems Biology
Corundum Systems Biology, established in Tokyo, Japan, in April 2020, comprises business advisors, investors and analysts who envision microbiome as a critical field for unlocking next-generation life science technologies that can enhance human health and quality of life. The company offers support in microbiome advancements globally through support in development of new business, development of biometric database and data analysis platforms, and grant-giving to facilitate and accelerate R&D.
