Expanding from oncology into neurodegeneration, company leverages tiny extracellular vesicles to enhance blood-based biomarker discovery.
Precision medicine biotech FYR Bio has closed an $8 million financing round to accelerate its expansion into neurodegenerative disease research, extending the company’s biomarker discovery platform beyond its roots in oncology. FYR’s shift into neurodegeneration underscores a broader push in the field toward minimally invasive diagnostics that can capture the complexity of brain diseases.
The Montana-based biotech has developed a precision medicine platform built around extracellular vesicles, or EVs – nanoparticles released by cells that carry proteins, RNA and DNA reflecting the molecular state of their origin. Through its proprietary technology, FYR enriches EVs associated with specific diseases, enabling researchers to analyze disease-linked molecular cargo in a standard blood sample. These samples are then integrated into the company’s platform, which applies AI-driven multi-omic analyses to generate insights into disease mechanisms and treatment responses.
FYR initially focused on oncology, where EVs offer a noninvasive way to assess tumor biology, stratify patients and monitor therapeutic response. Over the past year, however, the company has expanded its efforts into neurodegeneration, with Parkinson’s disease emerging as a central area of interest. By enriching brain-derived EVs, FYR aims to increase the sensitivity and specificity of biomarker discovery in neurological disorders that are otherwise difficult to study through peripheral blood samples.
Earlier this year, FYR entered into a collaboration with Mayo Clinic to investigate blood-based biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease. The work is designed to generate data that could clarify disease progression and subtypes, with the ultimate goal of supporting new tools for patient stratification, longitudinal monitoring and pharmacodynamic readouts in clinical trials. It is hoped that tracking EV-derived molecular changes over time could provide a more detailed picture of how Parkinson’s disease evolves and how patients respond to treatment, potentially improving the design and outcomes of therapeutic studies.
The company’s latest financing is intended to continue to scale its oncology portfolio while advancing neurodegeneration programs, where it seeks to establish blood-based biomarkers as reliable decision-making tools in diseases where tissue access is limited.
“This financing enables us to scale what our partners value most: high-quality, blood-based insights that guide decisions in hard-to-access diseases,” FYR CEO Chris Booth.
The round was led by The Sontag Innovation Fund and the Yuvaan Tiwari Foundation, with continued support from Two Bear Capital.
“FYR has combined chemistry innovations with advanced AI analytics to turn complex biology into reliable, usable data,” said Two Bear’s Avery Sonnenberg.
