Poseida Therapeutics, a US-based startup developing drugs based on gene engineering, raised $30.5m in an oversubscribed series B round on Tuesday from investors including life sciences company Malin.
The round was led by Longitude Capital and also featured Vivo Capital and Tavistock Group. David Hirsch, managing director at Longitude Capital, has joined Poseida’s board of directors.
Founded in 2014, Poseida Therapeutics is developing immunotherapies and gene therapies using gene engineering technologies.
The company currently has one therapy, P-BCMA-101, in a phase 1 trial for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. A second candidate, P-PSMA-101, is in preclinical development for prostate cancer, while a third, P-BCMA-ALLO1, also targets multiple myeloma.
The funding will enable Poseida to conclude the phase 1 trial, file investigational new drug applications for P-PSMA-101 and P-BCMA-ALLO1, and to advance additional pipeline candidates.
Poseida previously obtained $11.2m in funding from unnamed investors in August 2017, according to a regulatory filing.
Malin committed in 2015 to invest up to $30m in series A capital, though a securities filing indicates Poseida secured only $23m at the time. The remaining investors in the series A round have not been disclosed.