LifeMine Therapeutics has secured $263 million in new financing as it works to advance an experimental drug designed to prevent organ transplant rejection. The funding gives the clinical-stage biotechnology company additional capital to move its lead program, LIFE-001, through clinical development and support its broader pipeline of transplantation and immunology therapies.
Based in Watertown, Massachusetts, LifeMine is developing LIFE-001 as a potential new approach to immunosuppression. The company discovered the drug through a platform that searches fungal genomes for molecules that could become medicines.
LifeMine Raises $263 Million
The new financing combines two rounds. LifeMine raised $75 million in a Series D financing in the fourth quarter of 2025 and followed it with a $188 million Series E financing that closed in July 2026.
Milky Way Investments led the Series E round. New investors included Bezos Expeditions, Gates Frontier and RA Capital Management. Existing investors GV, LoLa Capital Partners, GlaxoSmithKline, Invus and ARCH Venture Partners also participated. According to LifeMine, the company has raised $558 million from life sciences investors. BioPharma Dive has reported a total of about $580 million in private financing, reflecting differences in the way the company’s financing history is calculated.
LIFE-001 Targets Organ Transplant Rejection
LifeMine is developing LIFE-001 as a potential treatment to prevent the immune system from attacking transplanted organs. Organ transplant recipients generally require immunosuppressive medicines to reduce the risk of rejection. Many commonly used drugs work through calcineurin, a protein involved in T-cell activation.
LIFE-001 takes a different approach to targeting calcineurin. LifeMine describes the drug as a calcineurin activation inhibitor, or CNai. Unlike established calcineurin inhibitors that work through intermediary immunophilin proteins, LIFE-001 is designed to bind directly to calcineurin.
The company also designed LIFE-001 to remain largely outside the brain and other peripheral tissues. LifeMine believes this profile could help address some limitations associated with existing immunosuppressive treatments. However, LIFE-001 remains an investigational drug, and clinical studies must establish its safety and effectiveness.
Drug Discovery Starts With Fungal Genomes
LifeMine’s drug discovery strategy is one of the key features behind LIFE-001.
The company uses its Top-Down Drug Discovery platform to study fungal genomes and identify genetically encoded small molecules that may have therapeutic potential. Its technology combines genomic information with human genetics and genomics, bioinformatics, machine learning and synthetic biology.
Fungi have already played an important role in medicine. Researchers have derived several important medicines from fungal sources, including penicillin, statins and cyclosporine. LifeMine uses this biological diversity as a starting point for identifying potential new drug candidates.
LIFE-001 Advances Through Clinical Testing
LIFE-001 is currently being evaluated in a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical trial. The study is designed to assess the drug’s safety, tolerability, drug exposure and ability to suppress T-cell activity in the blood.
LifeMine said the ongoing Phase 1 study includes more than 120 adult participants. The company has also reported that it has not observed clinically meaningful renal, metabolic or cardiovascular safety signals to date. These findings are company-reported results from an ongoing study and do not establish the drug’s overall safety profile.
The company expects to move LIFE-001 into additional studies focused on organ transplantation. According to LifeMine, a Phase 2 study in kidney transplant recipients and a Phase 1b study in islet-cell transplant recipients are expected to begin in early 2027. These studies will be important in determining whether LIFE-001 can demonstrate a sufficient safety and efficacy profile to continue advancing through clinical development.
Funding Supports Transplantation Pipeline
The latest financing will not only support LIFE-001. LifeMine said the proceeds will also help advance its broader pipeline of therapies focused on transplantation and immunology.
The company’s strategy combines its fungal genomic discovery platform with modern drug-development technologies. By searching biological systems for molecules with useful properties, LifeMine aims to identify potential medicines for diseases where current treatment options have limitations. Gregory Verdine, Ph.D., is LifeMine’s co-founder, president and chief executive officer. The company was founded in 2017 and has previously worked with GlaxoSmithKline on drug discovery research.
What Comes Next for LifeMine
The $263 million financing marks a significant funding round for LifeMine as it moves LIFE-001 toward transplant-focused clinical studies. The next major step will be the continued evaluation of LIFE-001 in clinical trials. The planned kidney transplant and islet-cell transplant studies will provide additional data on the drug’s potential use in transplantation.
For now, LIFE-001 remains an experimental therapy. Its ability to offer a meaningful alternative to existing immunosuppressive treatments will depend on the results of future clinical studies. With fresh capital and an expanding pipeline, LifeMine is now focused on generating the clinical evidence needed to determine whether its fungal genome-based drug discovery approach can produce a new generation of medicines for transplantation and immune-related diseases.
