US-based immunotherapy developer Harpoon Therapeutics completed a $70m series C round on Friday that included Lilly Asia Ventures and Taiho Ventures, corporate venturing subsidiaries of pharmaceutical firms Eli Lilly and Taiho.
The round was led by healthcare investment firm OrbiMed and also featured Cormorant Asset Management, Oncology Impact Fund, Arix Bioscience, Ridgeback Capital Investments, NS Investment, MPM Capital and New Leaf Venture Partners.
Harpoon is working on T cell engagers based on its tri-specific T cell activating construct (Tritac) platform that fight diseases including cancer by leveraging the body’s immune system.
The company is developing four product candidates including HPN424, a candidate to treat metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. It plans to enter two more candidates, for mesothelin-expressing tumours and multiple myeloma, into phase 1 trials in 2019.
Jerry McMahon, president and CEO of Harpoon, said: “This financing is a significant milestone for us as we continue to advance our pipeline, including HPN424, our lead product candidate, with which we initiated a phase 1 trial this summer as a potential treatment for prostate cancer.
“With these funds, we intend to pursue preclinical and clinical development of additional product candidates based on our Tritac platform as well as our second technology platform, ProTritac, which we believe can expand access to a broader landscape of tumour targets and indications.”
MPM Capital invested an undisclosed sum in Harpoon in 2016 and returned for its $45m series B round in May 2017, participating alongside Taiho Ventures as well as Arix Bioscience and New Leaf Venture Partners, which co-led the round.
