# PLIANT THERAPEUTICS, INC. PLIANT THERAPEUTICS, INC. is an Asset Manager based in South San Francisco, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Asset Manager - **Headquarters:** South San Francisco, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** South San Francisco, CA, United States - **Founded:** 2015 - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **Website:** pliantrx.com ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About Pliant Therapeutics was founded in 2015 by a syndicate that included Third Rock Ventures, establishing the company to discover and develop novel therapies for fibrotic diseases. The firm operates from South San Francisco, where Bernard Coulie, a veteran of Actelion and the European biotech ecosystem, was brought in as President and CEO to build a pipeline around integrin biology. The company's scientific foundation rests on targeting the TGF-beta pathway, a master regulator of fibrosis, with small-molecule integrin inhibitors designed to halt or reverse tissue scarring without the systemic toxicity that plagued earlier attempts in the class. Pliant's lead asset, bexotegrast (PLN-74809), is a dual-selective inhibitor of αvβ6 and αvβ1 integrins in Phase 2b/3 trials for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). The company has also advanced PLN-1474, a liver-targeted αvβ1 inhibitor, into clinical development for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) liver fibrosis. Strategic partnerships have shaped deployment, notably a 2019 collaboration with Novartis for an αvβ8 integrin program that brought in up to $400M in milestone potential alongside an upfront payment. The company's geographic operations are concentrated in the United States for clinical development, with European trial sites in its BEACON-IPF study across multiple countries. In May 2024, Pliant reported positive 12-week interim data from the Phase 2a INTEGRIS-PSC trial of bexotegrast, showing statistically significant reductions in liver fibrosis markers, which sent shares up over 50% in a single session (per the firm, May 2024). September 2023 saw the appointment of Éric Lefebvre as Chief Medical Officer, bringing translational expertise from his tenure leading clinical development at other rare-disease biotechs (per the firm, September 2023). The company's capital deployment strategy has relied on a mix of venture backing from Third Rock Ventures, public equity raises including a $144 million IPO in 2020, and a follow-on offering in 2023 that raised approximately $140 million to fund ongoing pivotal trials. Pliant's structural differentiator is a biology-driven platform that doesn't just chase a single target but systematically maps integrin-tissue interactions across multiple fibrotic conditions. While most fibrosis biotechs license a single asset and pray for a Phase 2 readout, Pliant built an internal chemistry engine that generated a pipeline of oral, small-molecule integrin modulators — a rare capability in a field historically dominated by injectable biologics and antibody approaches requiring chronic hospital visits. ## Sectors - Healthcare Services - AI/ML ## People - Bernard Coulie — President and Chief Executive Officer - Éric Lefebvre — Chief Medical Officer ## Questions ### What does Pliant Therapeutics do, and what is its lead program? Pliant discovers and develops oral small-molecule integrin inhibitors for fibrotic diseases. Its lead drug, bexotegrast (PLN-74809), targets αvβ6 and αvβ1 integrins and is in Phase 2b/3 trials for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). The company's scientific premise is that selectively blocking these integrins can halt or reverse tissue scarring without the broader immunosuppression associated with earlier TGF-beta pathway drugs. ### What investment exposure would an allocator get to Pliant's pipeline? A direct allocation to Pliant comes via its publicly traded common stock (Nasdaq: PLRX). The company has raised over $500M across venture rounds, its 2020 IPO, and a 2023 follow-on. There is no sidecar fund or LP vehicle — exposure is purely through the equity capital markets. Any institutional investor buying PLRX is underwriting the binary risk of bexotegrast's Phase 2b/3 readouts in IPF and PSC. ### How does Pliant's fibrosis strategy differ from competitors like Galecto or FibroGen? Pliant focuses on integrin inhibition via oral small molecules, whereas Galecto pursued galectin-3 inhibition and FibroGen's pamrevlumab targeted connective tissue growth factor. Pliant's platform advantage — if the biology works — is oral dosing for chronic fibrotic diseases where patients currently face few options. Competitors largely failed in Phase 3, which makes bexotegrast one of the few remaining late-stage integrin-based therapies in the fibrosis space. ### Who are Pliant's major public- and private-market backers? Third Rock Ventures remains a central backer from the 2015 founding. Other institutional holders have included Baker Bros. Advisors, RA Capital Management, and Fidelity — standard blue-chip biotech crossover funds that participate in both private rounds and post-IPO public blocks. No single allocator controls a blocking stake; ownership is distributed across a syndicate of life-science specialists. ## Related profiles - [biote](https://altss.com/profile/biote-corp) - [Steele Bancorp](https://altss.com/profile/steele-bancorp-inc) --- Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/pliant-therapeutics-inc Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology