Kyverna Therapeutics Secures $25M Series A Financing to Advance Cell Therapy Platform for Autoimmune Diseases

On January 15, 2020, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned from foreign media that biotechnology company Kyverna Therapeutics (Kyverna) announced the completion of a $25 million Series A financing round. Investors in this round included Vida Ventures, Westlake Village BioPartners, and Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD).

Kyverna plans to use the proceeds from this financing round to continue developing its cell therapy platform for the treatment of severe autoimmune diseases.

Upon the completion of this funding round, Dominic Borie, M.D., was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Kyverna, while Fred Cohen, Co-Founder of Vida Ventures, will serve as Chairman of the Board. Dr. Jeffrey Greve will continue to serve as Kyverna’s Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to joining Kyverna, Dr. Greve founded Delinia, a company developing therapies for autoimmune diseases, and served as its Chief Safety Officer.

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in San Francisco, USA, Kyverna is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing novel cell therapies to provide new treatment options for patients with severe autoimmune diseases. Kyverna’s therapeutic platform combines advanced T-cell engineering technology with synthetic biology to address autoimmune cell dysregulation caused by inflammatory diseases.

Currently, Kyverna has entered into a strategic collaboration with Gilead Sciences to develop engineered T-cell therapies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, leveraging Kyverna’s cell therapy platform and Gilead Sciences’ synNotch technology. Under the agreement, Kyverna will be responsible for research activities and initial clinical studies, while Gilead Sciences will oversee further clinical development and commercialization. As part of this partnership, Gilead Sciences will make an upfront payment of $17.5 million to Kyverna.

Dr. Dominic Borie stated, “In our industry, a new therapeutic approach has the potential to serve as the foundation for treating multiple severe immune-mediated diseases. I am honored to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of Kyverna. As a surgeon, academic researcher, and drug developer, I am committed to discovering new treatments for patients with autoimmune diseases.”

“Kyverna has developed significant new therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases by combining advanced T-cell engineering with synthetic biology,” said Dr. Beth Seidenberg, Co-Founder of Westlake BioPartners. “The strategic collaboration with Gilead Sciences in the field of autoimmune diseases enables Kyverna to further advance its next-generation therapies to meet patients’ medical needs.”

Vida Ventures, founded in 2017 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, is a venture capital firm specializing in the life sciences sector. Established by a group of scientists, physicians, entrepreneurs, and investors passionate about the biomedical industry, the firm possesses extensive expertise in cell therapy and gene therapy. Currently, Vida Ventures manages approximately $1 billion in assets.

Westlake BioPartners, founded in 2018 and headquartered in California, USA, is a venture capital and financial services firm. The company is dedicated to incubating and building life sciences enterprises to deliver transformative therapies and innovative technologies to patients.

Gilead Sciences, founded in 1987 and headquartered in California, United States, is a publicly listed company in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. The company is dedicated to the discovery, development, production, and commercialization of innovative therapies, providing treatment solutions for patients with serious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, liver diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and respiratory diseases.

(Compiled by Xu Xiaoxue)