Novo Ventures, the corporate venturing unit belonging to pharmaceutical company Novo, has invested in a $33.5m series A round raised by US-based immuno-oncology company Corvus Pharmaceuticals.
The round, raised in December 2014 but disclosed on Wednesday, was led by venture capital firm OrbiMed Advisors and also featured private equity firm Adams Street.
Founded in 2014, Corvus is working on cancer therapies. The company’s lead drug product is a small-molecule checkpoint inhibitor, a type of treatment that enables the body’s immune system to identify tumours as hostile cells and attack them.
Corvus plans to launch a Phase 1b clinical trial for the drug in solid-tumour patients early next year. Other drug candidates the company has in development include a treatment that makes T-cells more toxic to tumour cells and an early-stage antibody checkpoint inhibitor.
Peter Moldt, partner at Novo Ventures, has joined Corvus’ board alongside Peter Thompson, partner at OrbiMed, and Terry Gould, partner at Adams Street.