6 Immuno-oncology Startups Attracting the Biggest VC Cash
Immunotherapy is proving a massive draw for investors and big pharma companies alike. These privately-owned immuno-oncology startups have bagged hefty funding rounds in the last two years.
For decades, the mainstays of cancer treatment have been chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery. In the last decade, however, a new option has emerged: cancer immunotherapy, which boosts the immune system’s fight against cancer cells.
One of the best-known forms of immunotherapy is immune checkpoint inhibitors, the first of which, Yervoy, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2011 for the treatment of melanoma.
There are many biotech startups aiming to overcome these challenges in cancer immunotherapy, and many have attracted large venture capital funding rounds in the last few years. Bicara Therapeutics ،Domain Therapeutics، Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals، Grey Wolf Therapeutics، OriCell Therapeuticsو Umoja Biopharma six private immuno-oncology startups around the world that have raised the biggest funding rounds in the last two years.
1)Bicara Therapeutics was spun out from compatriot company Biocon, which was founded by the Indian billionaire Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.The startup raised $108 million in a Series B financing round in March 2023, co-led by Red Tree Venture Capital and RA Capital Management. Bicara is using the funding to fuel the development of its lead program and the rest of its pipeline aimed at treating solid tumors.
2) Domain Therapeutics makes this list due to an impressive $42 million Series A round that it raised in May 2022, co-led by Panacea Venture, CTI Life Sciences, and 3B FutureHealth Fund.
The company is developing cancer drugs that target a type of cell surface proteins called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). According to the company, some GPCRs play a major role in helping tumors to suppress the immune system and resist immune checkpoint inhibitor treatments.
3) Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals focuses on developing the next generation of immune checkpoint inhibitors and other cancer immunotherapies and aims to take at least one program into clinical testing each year. Elpiscience raised an impressive Series C round worth $105 million in May 2021.
4)Grey Wolf Therapeutics aims to address a key way that some tumors resist current immunotherapies: they can hide cell surface markers of cancer known as neoantigens so that T cells cannot detect them, even when boosted by immunotherapy. The company is developing small molecules that block two proteins known as endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidases (ERAP1 and ERAP2).
5) OriCell Therapeutics is striving to become a world leader in the development of novel cancer immunotherapies. In August 2022, the biotech company bagged more than $120 million in Series B cash in a round led by Qiming Venture Partners and Quan Capital.
6)Umoja Biopharma launched with a hefty $53 million Series A round in November 2020 led by MPM Capital and Qiming Venture Partners USA. The biotech startup followed up in June 2021 with a spectacular Series B round worth $210 million, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Cormorant Asset Management.
To tackle difficulties in manufacturing CAR-T therapies for cancer patients, Umoja is developing a pipeline of off-the-shelf cell therapies such as CAR-T therapies, in addition to CAR-T therapies that can be genetically engineered in vivo rather than in the lab.
https://www.genengnews.com/topics/cancer/6-immuno-oncology-startups-attracting-the-biggest-vc-cash/
ارسال به دوستان