SonoThera Closes $125M Series B for Genetic Medicines
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SonoThera has closed an oversubscribed $125 million Series B financing to advance its ultrasound-mediated genetic medicines toward the clinic. The biotechnology company, based in South San Francisco, California, closed the round on June 10, 2026, having first launched it at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference earlier in the year.
The raise was led by Vida Ventures, with the venture arms of UCB, Bayer, Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Johnson & Johnson all participating. That lineup of pharmaceutical company investors signals serious strategic interest in SonoThera’s approach to delivering genetic medicines.
The company is developing nonviral genetic medicines using its proprietary RIPPLE technology, which relies on ultrasound-mediated delivery. The nonviral aspect is significant. Many genetic medicines depend on viral vectors to carry treatments into cells, an approach that brings manufacturing challenges and limits on repeat dosing. By using ultrasound rather than viruses to deliver its therapies, SonoThera is pursuing a path that could sidestep some of those constraints.
The funding will move SonoThera’s lead programs forward. Proceeds will advance its candidates in DMD, a form of muscular dystrophy, and ADPKD, a kidney disease, into the clinic. The capital will also support expansion of the company’s pipeline across multiple organ systems and further scaling of its platform technologies, reflecting an ambition that reaches beyond its first two programs.
SonoThera is targeting early 2027 to begin Phase 1 human clinical trials, the point at which its technology will face its most important tests. The oversubscribed nature of the round and the presence of multiple big pharma venture arms suggest confidence in the science, but the coming years of clinical work will determine whether ultrasound-based delivery can fulfill its promise. For now, the company has the capital to push its genetic medicines toward those first human studies.