Tmunity Therapeutics Secures $75M Series B Financing to Advance Next-Gen T-Cell Immunotherapies and Prepare for Clinical Data Readouts

Tmunity Therapeutics, a company focused on T-cell immunotherapy, announced today the completion of a $75 million Series B financing round. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (also known as “a16z”), with participation from Westlake BioPartners, Gilead Sciences, the University of Pennsylvania, Be The Match BioTherapies, BrightEdge, and the American Cancer Society’s Charitable Impact Fund.

The company stated that the funds from this round would be used to support ongoing and planned research, clinical development of products under investigation, and the establishment of the company’s proprietary, vertically integrated manufacturing platform for viral vector and cell therapy products, with plans to advance its products to Phase II clinical trials in 2021.

Tmunity was founded in 2015, leveraging core technologies related to CAR-T and TCR. Public information indicates that Tmunity is a company focused on clinical biotherapeutic drugs, dedicated to the clinical development of T-cell therapies, providing next-generation T-cell immunotherapies for critically ill patients, saving lives, and improving quality of life. To date, Tmunity has secured $231 million in financing. The core technology and founding team originate from the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. It is understood that Tmunity has an exclusive collaboration and licensing agreement with the University of Pennsylvania. In fact, the scientist founding team led by Dr. Carl H. June has achieved remarkable accomplishments in the field of cell and gene therapy, particularly boasting decades of outstanding achievements in T-cell medicine and related technologies, earning high prestige in this research domain.

Tmunity’s Partial Pipeline Under Development (Image Source: Tmunity Official Website)

In terms of R&D capabilities, Tmunity is currently developing a diverse range of novel therapeutic combinations. Three candidate drugs in its pipeline have entered clinical stages, including CAR-T therapies targeting solid tumors. While existing CAR-T therapies have proven effective against certain hematologic malignancies, challenges in treating solid tumors remain to be overcome. Currently, Tmunity’s first clinical program, PSMA CAR-T, is a therapy designed for the treatment of prostate cancer. These CAR-T cells are dual-engineered to both target the PSMA antigen on the surface of cancer cells and reduce immune suppression by blocking TGF-beta signaling.

The company’s other clinical program, NY-ESO-1 TCR-T Triple Knockout TCR (NYCE), involves CRISPR-mediated editing of T cells. The engineered T cells target the NY-ESO-1 antigen and are intended for the treatment of multiple myeloma, melanoma, and synovial sarcoma. Tmunity plans to present preliminary clinical data on this therapy at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in December this year.

Jorge Conde, General Partner at a16z and representative of the investors, stated: “To win the war against cancer, we need smarter weapons. The team led by Dr. Carl H. June, founder of Tmunity, invented CAR-T therapy, one of the most significant breakthroughs in cancer treatment in modern history. The Tmunity team has established a pioneering platform that has already been incorporated into clinical trials in humans for both solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. This is a ‘dream team’ that will realize the bold and promising vision of curing diseases using engineered T cells.”

References:

[1] Tmunity Raises $75 Million in Series B Financing to Advance Next-Generation T-Cell Therapies retrieved November 1 2019 from https://www.tmunity.com/2019oct31-tmunity-raises-75-million