Shasqi Secures $10M Series A Funding to Advance Click Chemistry-Based Cancer Therapy into First-in-Human Trials in 2020

On October 31, 2019, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned via Business Wire that Shasqi, a private company focused on improving the local delivery of oncology drugs to tumors, announced the completion of a $10 million Series A financing round. Investors in this round included Y Combinator and a group of high-net-worth private investors.

Shasqi, founded in 2018, is a privately held company that leverages bioorthogonal “click” chemistry to develop cancer therapies for localized drug delivery. The proceeds from this financing round will be used to complete GMP manufacturing of the company’s lead candidate and support the Phase I clinical trials in humans, which are expected to commence in the second quarter of 2020.

Dr. José M. Mejía Oneto, Founder and CEO of Shasqi, stated: “In preclinical models, our novel, highly targeted delivery technology enabled us to increase the concentration of active drug at tumor sites by more than 25-fold, thereby eliciting high-level, durable, and complete responses with fewer side effects than current approaches. Based on these results, we are highly optimistic and expect that our approach will similarly allow us to treat human cancers with higher doses of potent cancer therapies while significantly reducing dose-limiting toxicities.”

Dr. Mejia Oneto added, “We are deeply grateful to our investors, whose support has enabled us to advance our novel therapeutic approach into human clinical trials.”

In fact, the safety and efficacy of most cancer therapies are limited by the fact that typically only 1%–2% of the administered dose precisely targets the tumor. The remainder of each dose is wasted and contributes to off-target side effects. Shasqi’s localized drug activation approach utilizes a patented biomaterial containing an activator. When injected at the tumor site, it concentrates directly at the disease location to activate the prodrug form of the cancer therapeutic, thereby maximizing the drug’s effect where it is needed most.

Uri Lopatin, M.D., Visiting Partner at Y Combinator, stated, “We are delighted to see Shasqi advancing its novel cancer therapy delivery platform into human clinical trials. One of Y Combinator’s missions is to support entrepreneurs who build companies and technologies that make the world a better place. It is an honor to assist companies like Shasqi, which are developing new therapies designed to improve cancer cure rates, and we are excited to witness their progress in human studies.”

Y Combinator, founded in April 2005 in Mountain View, California, is a startup incubator that provides services such as funding and business advisory to numerous startups. In 2005, Y Combinator pioneered a new startup financing model, investing small amounts of capital in a large number of startups twice a year.

(Compiled by Xiong Hui)