US-based immunotherapy developer Carisma Therapeutics has increased a series A round backed by pharmaceutical firms AbbVie and Merck & Co to approximately $59m, Technical.ly Philly has reported.
Carisma had achieved a first $53m close for the round in June 2018 which was co-led by AbbVie’s corporate venturing unit, AbbVie Ventures, and venture capital firm HealthCap, with participation from Merck & Co’s MRL Ventures Fund.
The company secured approximately $6m in an extension towards the end of 2018, according to chief executive Steven Kelly. He did not reveal the identity of investors or specify when exactly the extension was secured.
Commercialisation firm IP Group also backed the initial tranche, as did Penn Medicine, the health system owned by University of Pennsylvania, from which Carisma was spun out. The round was filled out by Grazia Equity, Wellington Partners, TPG Biotech and Agent Capital.
Founded in 2016 as Carma Therapeutics, Carisma is developing immunotherapies that rely on a type of white blood cell called macrophages to detect and destroy cancer cells.
Once a cancer cell is killed, the macrophages pass on the ability to recognise tumours to another part of the immune system known as T cells. The series A funding is driving research and development activities, and Carisma is also looking to hire another 10 employees.
The company had previously received an undisclosed sum in a 2017 round also co-led by AbbVie Ventures and HealthCap, with contributions from IP Group and Grazia Equity. Penn Medicine is also an existing backer but has not revealed when it invested.
