DOYLESTOWN, PA — Hatch BioFund has invested in Optimeos Life Sciences, a Princeton University spinout developing a nanoparticle platform for delivering gene therapies and other biologic medicines, expanding the Pennsylvania venture firm’s portfolio of early-stage biotechnology companies targeting next-generation therapeutics.
Terms of the investment were not disclosed.
The financing backs Optimeos’ proprietary non-viral drug delivery technology, known as Coated Inverse Nanocarriers, or CINCs, which is designed to transport therapeutic molecules including RNA, DNA and proteins into targeted cells and tissues. The company said the platform could address one of the industry’s key challenges: safely and efficiently delivering complex therapies to specific parts of the body.
Optimeos, headquartered in Princeton, N.J., is advancing a lead gene replacement therapy program for citrullinemia type I, a rare genetic disorder also known as CTLN1. The company is also developing programs in T-cell engineering and targeted pulmonary therapies and is seeking partnerships with biopharmaceutical companies.
“Optimeos was founded on the conviction that the next great wave of medicine — RNA, DNA, and biologic therapies — will only reach its potential if we can deliver these molecules precisely, efficiently, and durably to the right cells and tissues,” Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Shahram Hejazi said in a statement.
The technology was developed over two decades in the laboratory of Princeton University professor emeritus Robert Prud’homme and is intended to encapsulate multiple types of therapeutic payloads while allowing developers to adjust tissue targeting and immune responses.
Hatch Managing Partner Lorenzo Pellegrini said the investment aligns with the firm’s strategy of supporting university-based scientific discoveries with commercial potential.
“Optimeos represents exactly the kind of company Hatch was built to support — exceptional science from a world-class academic institution, a seasoned leadership team, and a platform technology with the potential to unlock an entirely new generation of medicines,” Pellegrini said.
Prud’homme said the investment and industry partnerships are helping move the technology toward commercialization.
“It is gratifying to see the technology developed in my laboratory over twenty years attracting the investment and partnerships necessary to make a real difference in patients’ lives,” he said.
Hatch BioFund is headquartered at the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center in Doylestown and focuses on early-stage life sciences companies emerging from academic research institutions. The investment underscores continued venture capital interest in gene therapy delivery technologies, an area that has become increasingly important as the industry seeks more effective methods for deploying RNA, DNA and other advanced therapies.
Support the local news that supports Chester County. MyChesCo delivers reliable, fact-based reporting and essential community resources—free for everyone. If you value that, click here to become a patron today.