Failed 2025

    Mythic Therapeutics

    A single-asset biotech's Series C is the last cheque. If Phase 1/2 data isn't remarkable, don't expect a Series D at any price.

    TL;DR — Failure Post-Mortem

    Mythic Therapeutics was a Biotech / ADC Oncology startup founded in 2018 in USA. It raised $180M before collapsing in 2025 — 7 years of runway burned. IdeaProof's AI Failure Score: 72/100, driven by bridge round failed; single adc clinical trial terminated for funding reasons. The shutdown affected employees, investors, and the broader Biotech / ADC Oncology ecosystem. This case study breaks down the timeline, root causes, competitors that won, and replicable lessons for founders validating similar ideas today.

    Why did Mythic Therapeutics fail?

    Mythic Therapeutics failed in 2025 after 7 years of operation, losing $180M in raised capital. The root cause was bridge round failed; single adc clinical trial terminated for funding reasons. Key lesson: A single-asset biotech's Series C is the last cheque. If Phase 1/2 data isn't remarkable, don't expect a Series D at any price.

    Verifiable facts
    Sourced
    Founded → Closed

    2018 → 2025

    Funding Raised

    $180M

    Industry

    Biotech / ADC Oncology

    Country

    USA

    IdeaProof AI Failure Score

    72/100
    Market Fit Risk
    70
    Burn Rate Risk
    95
    Founder Risk
    45

    What Happened: The Timeline

    🚀

    2018

    Mythic Therapeutics founded in USA. Positioned in biotech / adc oncology.

    💰

    2018-2020

    Raises $180M from Venrock, Viking Global, Rock Springs, Cowen Healthcare Investments.

    ⚠️

    2024

    Warning signs emerge: bridge round failed.

    💀

    2025

    Shutdown announced. Root cause: bridge round failed; single adc clinical trial terminated for funding reasons.

    Root Causes

    Bridge round failed
    ADC investor appetite cooled
    Single-asset dependency
    Phase 1/2 data not differentiated

    Mythic Therapeutics was a Boston-area antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) startup that raised roughly $180M from Venrock, Viking Global, Rock Springs and Cowen Healthcare. On December 16 2025 Endpoints News reported the company had shut down and ended its sole clinical trial, MYTX-011 for c-Met-expressing solid tumors, after failing to raise a bridge round. Investor appetite had cooled sharply on ADCs after Merck's MK-6070 and several rivals underperformed in 2024-2025. Mythic joins a wave of 2018-2020 biotech seed and Series A companies collapsing as public-market comparables re-rated 60-80% off peak.

    Causal Chain

    Derived · heuristic

    This is our reading of the causal chain — separated from the verifiable facts above. Timeline dates, funding numbers and filings are facts (see methodology); root / proximate / terminal attribution is judgement based on public evidence.

    Root cause

    A combination of demand-side, execution, and capital-market pressures that this record documents without isolating a single dominant driver.

    Contributing factors
    • Bridge round failed
    • ADC investor appetite cooled
    • Single-asset dependency
    • Phase 1/2 data not differentiated
    Proximate cause

    2024: Warning signs emerge: bridge round failed.

    Terminal event

    2025: Shutdown announced. Root cause: bridge round failed; single adc clinical trial terminated for funding reasons.

    Base rates

    External sources

    A single failure is an anecdote. These base rates give you the denominator — how common this outcome is across all startups matching Mythic Therapeutics's profile. Sources are third-party; we do not restate them as our own claims.

    ~97%
    industry

    of venture-backed consumer hardware startups do not reach a profitable exit within 10 years — hardware requires atypical capital efficiency to survive.

    PitchBook Emerging Tech Research (2023)
    ~70%
    industry

    of digital-health startups fail to reach breakeven; reimbursement complexity + regulatory approvals extend runway needs beyond typical VC horizons.

    Rock Health State of Digital Health (2023)
    ~90%
    all

    of startups ultimately fail — including ~10% that fail in the first year and the rest across the following decade.

    Startup Genome / CB Insights aggregate (2024)
    ~35%
    all

    of new US employer businesses survive past their 10th year (Bureau of Labor Statistics BED series).

    US Bureau of Labor Statistics — BED (2024)
    ~35%
    stage

    of Series A rounds ever graduate to Series B; the rest run out of runway or pivot without a follow-on.

    CB Insights Venture Capital Funnel (2023)

    Key Lessons Learned

    1. Bridge round failed

    Bridge round failed — a recurring pattern across biotech / adc oncology failures. Validate this risk before you scale.

    2. ADC investor appetite cooled

    ADC investor appetite cooled — a recurring pattern across biotech / adc oncology failures. Validate this risk before you scale.

    3. Single-asset dependency

    Single-asset dependency — a recurring pattern across biotech / adc oncology failures. Validate this risk before you scale.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Sources & Confidence

    Every data point is tagged with its source type and our confidence in it. How we grade sources.

    Additional references
    Endpoints News

    Could This Failure Have Been Prevented?

    IdeaProof's AI validates market demand, competitive positioning, and business model viability in minutes — catching the exact issues that sank Mythic Therapeutics.

    Spotted a factual error?

    Approved corrections are published in the public changelog with attribution.

    After Mythic Therapeutics: hubs, comparisons and deep dives

    Compare the validation, funding and go-to-market choices that separate survivors from failures like Mythic Therapeutics.