Accent Therapeutics Secures $75 Million Series C Financing to Advance Novel Small Molecule Precision Oncology Therapies

Text | Li Nana

Accent Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Massachusetts, USA, dedicated to developing innovative small-molecule precision cancer therapies.

On January 23, the company announced the completion of a $75 million Series C financing round. This round was led by Mirae Asset Capital Life Science, with new investors including Mirae Asset Capital, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Johnson & Johnson Innovation. Existing investors such as The Column Group, Atlas Venture, Droia Ventures, GV, EcoR1 Capital, AbbVie Ventures, The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research, and NS Investment (formerly Timefolio Capital) also participated in this round. The proceeds will be used to support early clinical development of the company's two leading programs—DHX9 inhibitors and KIF18A inhibitors—including safety, pharmacokinetics, and early efficacy studies.

Accent Therapeutics is developing therapies targeting novel and known but sub-optimally treated high-impact oncology targets that have the potential to benefit a large number of patients. Building on its industry-leading expertise in RNA Modifying Proteins (RMPs) and systematic mapping of the RMP landscape and adjacent high-value drug discovery space, the company is establishing a flexible model allowing for multiple approaches to develop biomarker-driven cancer drugs with potentially transformative impact. Its DHX9 inhibitor aims to address indications with high unmet needs, including BRCA loss-of-function cancers (breast, ovarian), mismatch repair-deficient (dMMR) or microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) cancers (colorectal, endometrial, gastric), and other undisclosed cancer types. DHX9 is a DNA/RNA helicase that plays critical roles in replication, transcription, translation, RNA splicing, RNA processing, and maintenance of genomic stability. As such, this enzyme represents a compelling novel oncology target because inhibiting DHX9 exploits key vulnerabilities in tumors, leading to cancer-specific lethality. Accent Therapeutics is currently conducting IND-enabling studies for its DHX9 inhibitor.

Accent's second lead program is a KIF18A inhibitor, which also has the potential to benefit patients with unmet clinical needs, such as ovarian cancer and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). KIF18A is a mitotic kinesin that is crucial for cell division in specific tumors with chromosomal instability. A subset of tumor cells with abnormal chromosome numbers (aneuploidy) is sensitive to KIF18A, and treatment with a KIF18A inhibitor rapidly kills these cells both in vitro and in vivo, while cells with normal chromosome numbers (euploid) remain unaffected. Accent plans to initiate IND-enabling studies for KIF18A in the first half of 2024.

Naveen Krishnan, Medical Doctor at Mirae Asset Capital Life Science, stated: "When evaluating companies for our first investment, Accent Therapeutics stood out for its focus on targeting the vulnerabilities of cancer cells in a specific and powerful way. They have built an excellent team with a proven track record of successful drug development, and we look forward to supporting Accent Therapeutics at this critical juncture."

Editor | Hai Ruojing