Illuminare Biotechnologies Closes Series B, Names New CEO
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Illuminare Biotechnologies, a clinical stage company based in New York, has completed a Series B funding round that will let it start and finish a Phase 2 clinical trial in breast reconstruction.
Alongside the raise, the board appointed Brian Longstreet as chief executive officer, effective June 1, 2026. He brings 30 years across pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical technology, covering product clinical development and global commercialisation. He built his foundation at Schering-Plough and Merck & Co., and more recently worked on growing smaller biotech and medtech companies including Exolvo Biosciences, ChromeX Therapeutics, CorriXR Therapeutics and Orexigen Therapeutics. He has led teams of more than 2,000 people and built start-up organisations from scratch.
Walter Greenblatt, previously chief executive and chairman, stays on as chairman and moves into the chief financial officer role.
The company develops novel imaging agents that improve intraoperative nerve visualisation and reduce unintended nerve injury during surgery. Its lead candidate, Illuminare-1, also known as rizedisben, is a small molecule with rapid onset and sustained duration of nerve illumination.
Phase 1 work was conducted at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan in radical prostatectomy patients. The study showed safety and tolerability, favourable pharmacokinetics and improved nerve visualisation, delineation and identification in robot assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, with a clinically effective dose reached at 3.0 mg/kg. Results were published in July 2025 in JAMA Surgery. The company expects to enter Phase 2 in the second half of 2026.