Fate Therapeutics launches stem-cell effort with $12 million

A group of venture capitalists is investing $12 million to launch Fate Therapeutics, a biotech company aiming to develop drugs that spur dormant adult stem cells to regenerate damaged tissue.

The budding biotech expects to have a product in early-stage clinical trials by next year. The company's principal backers are ARCH Venture Partners and Polaris Venture Partners, which both have a Seattle presence. Kirkland-based OVP Venture Partners and Cambridge, Mass.-based Venrock are also investors.

Fate is currently operating out of ARCH Venture Partners' Seattle offices, and will remain in the city if it finds a chief executive here, said ARCH founding partner Robert Nelsen. The company plans to open facilities in Massachussets and California, a statement said.

In Seattle "we're able to attract money to great ideas," Nelsen said. "The hardest thing is finding the right team and the right CEOs."

Fate will work on drugs that cause dormant adult stem cells to regenerate damaged tissue, as well as drugs that reprogram mature adult cells into stem cells that can repair ailing organs. The therapies could help treat Down syndrome, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, as well as repair tissue in the wake of heart attacks, infections or transplants. Stem cells could also help fight certain types of cancer.

Fate's founders include Randall Moon, a stem cell expert at the University of Washington; scientists from Stanford University, the Scripps Research Institute and Harvard University; and Alex Rives, of ARCH Venture Partners.

The company's executive vice president, Tom St. John, was formerly the head of ICOS Corp.'s therapeutic development programs.

Ángel González: 206-515-5644 or agonzalez@seattletimes.com