A2 Bio closes $80 million Series C financing round
Agoura Hills-based A2 Biotherapeutics, a clinical-stage cell therapy company, on Jan. 9 announced the closing of its $80 million Series C financing round, supported by a syndicate of investors that includes The Column Group and Samsara BioCapital.
A2 Bio is developing first-in-class logic-gated cell therapies to selectively target tumor cells and protect normal cells.
Proceeds will fund the company’s three clinical development programs and advancement of its pipeline of CAR-T cell therapies based on its proprietary Tmod platform technology.
“We are excited by the initial clinical data from our lead programs, which we believe validates our proprietary logic-gate technology approach to solid tumor cancers,” A2 Bio CEO Jim Robinson said in a press release.
“This funding will enable us to continue ongoing clinical development of our CAR-T cell therapies as well as fund the potential next phase of development,” he said.
A2 Bio is currently conducting two seamless phase 1/2 clinical studies: Everest-1 studying A2B530 for pancreatic, lung and colorectal cancers by targeting carcinoembryonic antigen; and Everest-2 studying A2B694 for pancreatic, ovarian, lung, colorectal and mesothelioma cancers by targeting mesothelin.
Patients are enrolled in Everest-1 and Everest-2 through the Basecamp-1 prescreening study. Basecamp-1 utilizes AI-enabled precision diagnostics, as a cost-effective, high-yield approach to identify eligible patients for all A2 Bio clinical studies.
A2 Biotherapeutics, established in 2018, is a fully integrated discovery, development, and manufacturing company.
It plans to direct the Series C funds to support the company’s three clinical studies, as well as to advance preclinical programs using its Tmod platform for potential clinical targets representing significant unmet needs in cancer and beyond.
The platform incorporates two receptors, an activator and a blocker, to aim the powerful armaments of immune cells directly at tumors to unequivocally differentiate tumors from normal tissues.
The activator recognizes antigens on tumor cells that trigger their destruction, while the blocker recognizes antigens on normal cells that protect them.
