Third Rock and Takeda Fund $140 Million Startup to Create Regenerative Therapies for Liver Diseases

CP Staff
CP Staff

Ambys Medicines launched on 8/8/18 with a $60 million Series A financing funded by Third Rock Ventures and Takeda. As part of the launch, Ambys also announced today a strategic partnership with Takeda bringing total committed funding at launch to $140 million.


Ambys is a biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing transformative therapies for people with advanced liver disease. Founded by world-renowned experts in liver disease and regenerative medicine, Ambys is pioneering the application of novel modalities including cell and gene therapy, and gain-of-function drug therapy, to meet the urgent need for treatments that have potential to restore liver function and prevent the progression to liver failure across multiple liver diseases that are untreatable or poorly treated today. Ambys is headquartered in Redwood City, Calif.

“With the launch of Ambys, we are seizing the opportunity to radically reshape the way in which serious liver diseases are treated,” said Jeffrey Tong, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Ambys Medicines and venture partner with Third Rock Ventures. “Major advances in the fields of gene and cell therapy and gain-of-function drug therapies, coupled with deeper understanding of liver biology, create the potential to develop drug therapies that can now restore or replace natural liver function.”

Scientific co-founders of Ambys include world-renowned experts in liver disease, cell and gene therapy, and small molecules that can replace protein function:

  • Martin Burke, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Markus Grompe, M.D. is the Ray Hickey Professor and Director of the Papé Family Pediatric Research Institute at Oregon Health & Science University, and the Director of the Oregon Stem Cell Center
  • Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, Ph.D. is Professor and Roger Guillemin Chair of the Gene Expression Laboratories at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies
  • Holger Willenbring, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco