Pharmaceutical company Pharmstandard International contributed to a $36m extension of a series B round for US-based immuno-oncology treatment developer Neon Therapeutics yesterday, bringing the total raised for the round to $106m.
Conglomerate Access Industries also contributed to the extension alongside Fidelity Management & Research Company, Partner Fund Management (PFM), Wellington Management, Arrowmark Partners, Nextech Invest, Hillhouse Capital Group and Casdin Capital.
Neon is working on therapeutic vaccines and T-cell therapies to treat cancer. Its treatments are designed to direct the body’s own immune system to target proteins called neoantigens which are caused by tumour mutations.
The funding will be used to continue development of three programs, including Neon’s lead product candidate, NEO-PV-01, a neoantigen vaccine currently in a phase 1b clinical trial. It is also working on a personal neoantigen T-cell program and an approach that focuses on shared neoantigen targets.
The series B round reached a $70m first close in January 2017, with cash from Access Industries, PFM, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Third Rock Ventures, Wellington Management Company, Inbio Ventures and Nextech Invest.
Neon had previously secured $55m in a 2015 series A round featuring founding investor Third Rock, Access Industries and Clal Biotechnology Industries, a healthcare-focused investment holding firm 49.9% owned by Access.
Hugh O’Dowd, Neon Therapeutics’ CEO, said: “Our team has made strong progress across the full breadth of our neoantigen portfolio. We remain focused on leading this neoantigen field in the development of new therapeutic options for patients.”