Leaps by Bayer, the impact corporate venturing arm of pharmaceutical and chemicals group Bayer, helped US-headquartered cancer therapeutics developer Triumvira Immunologics expand its series A round to $100m yesterday.
The $45m extension also featured Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation’s venture philanthropy subsidiary as well as B Capital Group, Atem Capital, Myeloma Investment Fund, Northpond Ventures and undisclosed other investors.
Triumvira is working on non-gene edited autologous and allogeneic T cell medications designed to leverage the biology of T cells to treat solid tumours. Its co-founders include Jonathan Bramson, a professor in McMaster University’s department of pathology and molecular medicine.
The series A proceeds will fund further development of the company’s T cell antigen coupler (TAC) drug candidates. Its lead candidate, TAC01-HER2, is in a phase 1/2 clinical trial for solid tumours in breast, gastric, ovarian, pancreatic, gall bladder and non-small cell lung cancers.
The round’s $55m first tranche was co-led by Leaps by Bayer and Northpond Ventures in August 2020 with additional backing from drug discovery services provider Viva Biotech, investment bank and Triumvira co-founder Bloom Burton, Oceanpine Capital and Centre for Commercialization of Cancer Immunotherapy.
Paul Lammers, Triumvira’s president and CEO, said: “We would like to welcome our new investors to our series A syndicate and acknowledge our current investors for their growing confidence in our technology and approach to empowering the body’s natural defences against life-threatening solid tumours where there are significant gaps in cell therapies.
“Our proprietary TAC technology platform offers an innovative approach to developing novel autologous and allogeneic treatments for solid tumors, and we are excited to advance our pipeline through 2022 and beyond.”
Image courtesy of National Cancer Institute via Unsplash.
