USA – Amunix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a South San Francisco, CA-based biopharmaceutical company focused on developing masked, protease-activated immune-oncology therapeutics to bring the promise of these potent therapies to patients with solid tumor cancers, raised $117m in Series B financing.
The round was led by Viking Global Investors with participation from a premier syndicate of funds, including new investors Bain Capital Life Sciences, BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Janus Henderson Investors, ArrowMark Partners, Avidity Partners, certain funds managed by Clough Capital Partners, and CaaS Capital Management and existing investors Redmile Group, Venrock, Casdin Capital, Omega Funds, Frazier Healthcare Partners, Longitude Capital, and Polaris Partners.The company intends to use the funds for the advancement into the clinic of AMX-818, a masked, protease-activated T cell engager (XPAT®) targeting HER2-expressing solid tumors, as well as support Amunix’s robust pipeline of earlier stage XPATs® and masked, protease-activated cytokines (XPACs™).Led by Angie You, Ph.D., chief executive officer, Amunix is leveraging its proprietary XPAT® and XPAC™ platforms to advance a pipeline of novel drugs that are preferentially activated in the tumor microenvironment and designed to overcome toxicity challenges that have hindered other T cell and cytokine therapies. Its proprietary masking technology has been clinically validated to extend drug half-life with limited immunogenicity. The company’s pipeline includes AMX-818, an XPAT® T cell engager targeting a variety of HER2-expressing solid tumors, which is currently in IND-enabling studies. Along with several other T cell engager programs, Amunix is also applying its proprietary masking technology to its first masked, protease-activated cytokine program, IL12-XPAC™, which is in discovery stage.08/03/2021
