SonoThera Closes Oversubscribed $125 Million Series B Financing to Advance Clinical Development of Ultrasound-Mediated Nonviral Genetic Medicines

SAN FRANCISCO–SonoThera, a biotechnology company developing next-generation genetic medicines to address the root causes of disease, today announced the closing of an oversubscribed $125 million Series B financing round to advance its lead programs in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) into the clinic and expand its pipeline of targeted, redosable genetic medicines.

The financing was led by Vida Ventures, with participation from ARK Invest, CureDuchenne Ventures, Leaps by Bayer, Otsuka Pharmaceutical, SymBiosis, UCB Ventures SA, Vivo Capital, and existing investors ARCH Venture Partners, Alexandria Venture Investments, Duquesne Family Office, Illumina Ventures, Johnson & Johnson, through its corporate venture capital organization, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., Medical Excellence Capital, RA Capital, and Vertex Ventures HC.

In connection with the financing, Rajul Jain, M.D., Managing Director at Vida Ventures, and Rakhshita Dhar, M.S., Vice President & Head, Healthcare Venture Investments at Leaps by Bayer, have joined SonoThera’s Board of Directors.

Proceeds from the financing will advance SonoThera’s lead programs in DMD and ADPKD into the clinic, expand its pipeline across multiple organ systems, and further scale its proprietary platform technologies designed to enable safe, targeted, and repeatable delivery of genetic medicines. The oversubscribed financing follows significant preclinical progress demonstrating targeted delivery across multiple tissues and successful delivery of both large DNA and RNA payloads, underscoring strong investor conviction in SonoThera’s platform and pipeline.

SonoThera’s platform combines RIPPLE™, a proprietary ultrasound-mediated delivery technology, with PORE™, a payload engineering platform that supports DNA and RNA therapeutics, gene editing, and gene silencing approaches. Anchored by these technologies, the company is developing targeted, redosable genetic medicines designed to address key limitations of conventional gene therapies, including delivery challenges, payload size constraints, immune responses, safety events, and the inability to redose.

“We are grateful to have the support of this exceptional group of new and existing investors who share our vision of expanding the potential of genetic medicines,” said Kenneth Greenberg, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, SonoThera. “Despite remarkable scientific progress, many diseases remain beyond the reach of today’s genetic medicines. We founded SonoThera to take a fundamentally different approach, with a platform designed to broaden the therapeutic possibilities of the field. We believe our technology has the potential to expand the range of diseases addressable by genetic medicines while enabling more precise, durable, safer, and repeatable therapies for patients.”

“We at Vida have a long history of investing in and developing genetic medicines, some of which are now used to treat patients across the globe. We believe SonoThera, with its RIPPLE™ delivery and PORE™ payload engineering technologies, has the potential to unlock opportunities in diseases with significant unmet need that have been previously inaccessible to other genetic medicine approaches,” said Rajul Jain, M.D., Managing Director at Vida Ventures. “We have been deeply impressed by SonoThera’s scientific rigor, pace of execution, and vision, and we are excited to support the company as it advances its first programs into the clinic.”

“SonoThera has made impressive progress since its founding and continues to demonstrate the potential of its approach to genetic medicine,” said Steven Gillis, Ph.D., Managing Director at ARCH Venture Partners. “The team has built a strong foundation, generated compelling preclinical data, and assembled an outstanding group of investors and partners. We are excited to continue supporting the company as it advances toward the clinic.”

The company has demonstrated targeted delivery and expression across multiple tissues, including skeletal muscle, heart, liver, kidney, adipose, and brain, as well as delivery of large genetic payloads such as full-length dystrophin for DMD and RNA-based payloads for gene silencing applications in preclinical studies. SonoThera expects to initiate its first clinical trial in DMD in 2027.

“At CureDuchenne, we are committed to supporting innovative approaches that have the potential to transform the lives of individuals living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy,” said Debra Miller, Founder and CEO of CureDuchenne. “SonoThera’s differentiated nonviral platform has the potential to address important challenges in gene delivery and bring treatments to families who have been left waiting. We are proud to support the company’s next phase of growth and clinical development.”

SonoThera’s approach leverages widely available, FDA-cleared diagnostic ultrasound systems and commercial ultrasound contrast agents approved for diagnostic uses, enabling an investigational, noninvasive outpatient procedure that can be performed in approximately one hour or less.

About SonoThera

SonoThera is developing an ultrasound-mediated nonviral genetic medicine platform designed to deliver the next generation of safe, targeted, and redosable genetic medicines. By integrating proprietary RIPPLE™ ultrasound delivery with PORE™ payload engineering, the company is advancing a broad range of genetic medicine approaches, including DNA and RNA therapeutics, gene editing, and gene silencing. SonoThera’s platform is designed to enable precise, durable gene expression across multiple tissues while addressing key limitations associated with viral delivery approaches. The company is advancing a pipeline of genetic medicines for serious diseases, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy and autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. SonoThera is headquartered in South San Francisco, California. For more information, visit www.sonothera.com.