September 11th, 2018
Houston—OncoResponse,
a biotech startup formed jointly with the University of Texas M.D. Anderson
Cancer Center in Houston, announced Tuesday it has raised a $40 million Series
B round of funding.
RiverVest Venture Partners led the round, which included new
investors Redmile Group and the Qatar Investment Authority, as well as existing
investors Alexandria Venture Investments, Arch Venture Partners, HT Family
Office, Canaan Partners, Helsinn Investment Fund, and Rice University. The
company had previously closed on a $22.5 million Series A round of funding last
year.
The funding will be used to advance five different therapy
programs based on antibodies derived from cancer patients who are in remission,
says Cliff Stocks, OncoResponse’s CEO. “This funding will take us into 2021,”
he says.
The drug candidates were derived from OncoResponse’s technology,
which mines the immune systems of patients who have responded exceptionally
well to cancer immunotherapies. The company is part of a growing cohort of
biotech companies developing immunotherapies, which involve stimulating a
patient’s own immune system to attack and kill cancer cells.
Any therapy that OncoResponse is able to develop would likely be
used in combination with other drugs such as checkpoint inhibitors or cancer
vaccines that could stimulate the immune system in the cancer patients, Stocks
said in an interview.
Stocks says he expects that by the fourth quarter of 2020, the
company will be doing clinical trials for an antibody targeting cells that
suppress the immune response in the tumor microenvironment. Trial data could be
ready to disclose in early 2021, he says. This antibody could enhance the
response rate of checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment of gastric, colorectal,
and non-small cell lung cancers, as well as melanoma, he adds.
OncoResponse was founded in
2015 when Theraclone Sciences, a Seattle biotech company,
and M.D. Anderson announced the formation of a new company seeking to find
personalized antibodies that help fight cancer. The company is based in both
Seattle and Houston. Scientists at the company had been working with
counterparts at the Houston hospital. Theraclone continues to operate as a
therapeutic antibody discovery company that developed an antibody for the
treatment of HIV, ebola, and other diseases.
Stocks says OncoResponse’s close relationship with co-founder
M.D. Anderson has been crucial in the development of its therapies. In addition
to the “almost unlimited” number of samples from cancer patients shared by M.D.
Anderson, he says working with the cancer institution has given the company a
direct pipeline to the expertise of its oncologists and other experts.
Angela Shah is the editor of Xconomy Texas. She
can be reached at ashah@xconomy.com or (214) 793-5763. Follow
@angelashah
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