OncoResponse, a US-based company researching antibodies for immune-oncology treatments, added $7m yesterday to a corporate-backed series A round that now totals $19.5m.
Helsinn Investment Fund, the unit recently launched by cancer care provider Helsinn, and venture capital firm GreatPoint Ventures each provided $3.5m. Baxalta, the biopharmaceutical company since acquired by pharmaceutical firm Shire, had invested $3m in June 2016.
Arch Venture Partners, Canaan Partners and cancer treatment centre MD Anderson co-led the $9.5m first tranche of the round in October 2015, investing together with William Marsh Rice University and life sciences property group Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
OncoResponse’s technology screens antibodies generated by the immune system to identify which are the most reactive to cancer immunotherapy, and which could potentially form the basis for new oncology therapies.
Strategic partner MD Anderson, part of University of Texas, supplies the patient samples and contributes oncology and translational medicine expertise.
Clifford J. Stocks, OncoResponse’s CEO, said: “These additional funds will support the continued progression of our research programs that aim to identify therapeutically relevant antibodies from patients with elite response to cancer immunotherapy in a number of oncology indications.”