US-based immuno-oncology startup Arcus Biosciences has raised $120m across two rounds from investors including internet and technology group GV and pharmaceutical firms Taiho, Novartis and Celgene, Fierce Biotech reported yesterday.
Arcus was founded in May 2015 by Terry Rosen and Juan Jaen, co-founders in 2013 of Flexus Biosciences, the immuno-oncology therapeutics developer acquired two years later by pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb for up to $1.25bn.
Arcus raised an initial $30m from friends and family before Novartis, Celgene and venture capital firms The Column Group (TCG) and Foresite Capital helped increase its series A round to $49.7m in May 2015. Celgene and TCG were also investors in Flexus.
GV, the corporate venturing arm of Alphabet, subsequently led a $70m round earlier this month that included Taiho Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of Taiho, as well as Invus, Droia Oncology Ventures and Stanford University.
Arcus is still in stealth mode but is developing small-molecule and antibody treatments that will leverage the body’s immune system to fight cancer. It is targeting the CD73 and CD39 enzymes and the A2A receptor, and intends to select a lead candidate from the CD73 program later this year.
Terry Rosen, CEO of Arcus, told Fierce Biotech: “In May, we strategically decided to get two of our projects into the clinic in 2017. At the outset, we had thought to advance just one in 2017 and the next in 2018.
“We still had $40m left, but we wanted to expand what we were doing and push the other programs faster.”
The funding will also be used to expand the company’s headcount. It had initially planned to have a 38-strong team by the end of 2016 but is now aiming for 60 people.