US-based genomic drug developer KSQ Therapeutics has raised $80m in a series C round backed by pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly through its Lilly Asia Ventures unit.
Life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities also invested, as did Baillie Gifford, Cowen Healthcare Investments, Invus, Flagship Pioneering, Polaris Partners and Arch Venture Partners.
KSQ is working on cancer treatments, using a tumour-genome platform to discover potential targeted cancer drugs and a T-cell genome platform to develop immune system-based oncology monotherapies.
The series C cash is intended to help advance KSQ’s lead drug candidate, a T-cell immunotherapy, into clinical trials in the next 18 months while progressing three more toward investigational new drug-enabling studies.
David Meeker, KSQ’s chief executive, said: “KSQ has made remarkable progress in the past 12 months taking an unbiased, whole-genome approach to target identification with the goal of changing the probabilities of drug discovery and development.
“This approach has rapidly generated a broad pipeline of cancer programs and positions us to create new medicines with higher success rates and better outcomes for patients.”
The company had previously closed $76m in financing in an October 2017 round that was led by Flagship Pioneering with contributions from Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Polaris Partners and Arch Venture Partners.
