US-based cellular cancer therapy developer Immpact Bio USA completed an $18m funding round on Tuesday featuring pharmaceutical firms Johnson & Johnson, Takeda, Novartis and Bukwang Pharmaceutical.
The round included RM Global Partners BioPharma, OrbiMed, Hayan Health Networks and JVC Investment Partners, with Takeda, Johnson & Johnson and Novartis investing through Takeda Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC and Novartis Venture Fund respectively.
Founded in 2017 as a project within biotech incubator FutuRx, Immpact Bio is working on therapeutics by engineering CAR T-cells that address damaged genes linked to solid cancers, rather than the defined antigens used historically for haematological CAR-T treatments.
The technology extends discoveries made by Immpact Bio USA’s founder Gideon Gross, an associate professor and principal investigator with Migal Research Institute in Israel.
FutuRx is an Israeli government-backed biotech accelerator allied to Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Takeda Ventures and OrbiMed’s Israel Partners subsidiary.