USA – 3T Biosciences, a South San Francisco, CA-based immunotherapy company, raised $40M in Series A funding.
The round was led by Westlake Village BioPartners with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners.The company intends to use the funds to bring novel targets into clinical development.Led by CEO Stefan J. Scherer, 3T Biosciences is an immunotherapy company focused on discovering and developing next-generation therapies with curative potential based on its immune-response guided target discovery approach. 3T Biosciences’ proprietary technology – 3T-TRACE (T-Cell Receptor Antigen and Cross-Reactivity Engine) – identifies the most prevalent and immunogenic targets in solid tumors by combining high-diversity target libraries with active machine learning. Starting with a productive response from patients, 3T can identify and leverage shared targets and therapeutically active TCRs and T-cell receptor mimetics (TCRms). 3T-TRACE addresses two major challenges in current immunotherapy development: 1) identifying novel shared TCR targets of productive immune responses against solid tumors and other diseases; and 2) comprehensively screening TCRs and TCRms for specificity and off-target cross-reactivities, with the potential to create tumor-specific, safer therapies that can be delivered at higher doses.By leveraging the power of the immune system to recognize, target, and destroy cancer cells, 3T’s technology is advancing the development of next-generation therapies that have the potential to be safer, more effective, and even curative for difficult-to-treat cancers. The 3T-TRACE platform expanded coverage and scale are applicable across all tumor types. Beyond cancer, 3T is looking toward opportunities across multiple therapeutic areas, including autoimmune diseases.As part of its launch, the company announced it has exclusively in-licensed from Stanford University a precise antibody-based peptide-HLA therapeutic discovery platform and development-stage MAGE-A3 T-cell receptor (TCR)-T assets to rapidly expand 3T’s therapeutic portfolio. The company also announced the appointment of Stefan J. Scherer, M.D., Ph.D., as president and chief executive officer (CEO), and Christopher (Chris) J. DeRespino, MBA, as chief business officer. In addition, 3 T named its board of directors, chaired by Sean Harper, M.D., a co-founding managing director at Westlake, and its Scientific Advisory Board, led by K. Christopher Garcia, Ph.D., one of the world’s foremost experts in TCRs and scientific co-founder.26/08/2022
