Encoded raises $275 million to push Dravet gene therapy into pivotal testing

US biotech company Encoded Therapeutics has closed a $275 million series F financing that will fund pivotal testing of ETX101, a gene therapy for Dravet syndrome, a severe form of childhood epilepsy. The privately held South San Francisco firm announced the round on Wednesday, days after presenting updated trial data at the European Epilepsy Congress.

The financing was co-led by GV, the venture arm of Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOGL), and a healthcare fund that was not named. Others taking part included ARCH Venture Partners, Braidwell, Farallon Capital Management, Illumina Ventures, Invus, Janus Henderson Investors (NYSE: JHG), Matrix Capital Management, Nolan Capital, RTW Investments, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Venrock.