People
Bayer, Northpond Ventures Lead USD 55m series A Financing Round for Triumvira Immunologics
27 August 2020 - - Germany-based biopharmaceutical company Triumvira Immunologics Inc has completed a USD 55m series A financing round, the company said.

The financing was co-led by Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment unit of German pharmaceutical company Bayer AG (OTC: BAYZF), and Northpond Ventures.

Additional investors include Oceanpine Capital and Viva Biotech Holdings, and existing investors include Bloom Burton and Co. and the Centre for Commercialization of Cancer Immunotherapy.

T-cells are a type of white blood cell that are critical in ridding the body from abnormal and cancerous cells in healthy individuals. In cancer patients, these T-cells frequently fail to either recognize or effectively engage cancer cells.

Novel T-cell therapies have the potential to disrupt cancer care and potentially even provide cures. Triumvira is committed to develop novel T-cell therapies that are safer and more efficacious than current cell therapy cancer treatments, including chimeric antigen receptor and engineered T-cell receptor therapies.

This financing will enable Triumvira to advance multiple autologous and allogeneic programs into the clinic for solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.

Curing and preventing cancer is one of the main focus areas of Leaps by Bayer, as this disease still represents one of TODAY's most pressing health concerns, especially since there are limited curative or preventative therapies available.

Triumvira's foundational technology is the T-cell Antigen Coupler. TAC is a hybrid molecule comprising multiple protein domains to combine tumor targeting abilities with the T-cell's own activation machinery, leveraging the potential for the development of superior therapies for a broader range of patients with solid or liquid malignancies.

Triumvira's preclinical data with autologous and allogeneic programmes demonstrate unique biological differences between TAC-engineered T-cells and second-generation CAR-T cells, with TAC-T cells showing absence of tonic signaling, strong tumor penetration, and long-term persistence.

These functional properties help TAC T-cells produce strong anti-tumor activity and no evidence of toxicity, particularly in models of solid tumors.

Dr. Juergen Eckhardt and Dr. Jak Knowles will represent Leaps by Bayer by actively participating on Triumvira's board of directors together with Dr. Shaan Gandhi, Principal at Northpond Ventures.

Additionally, Scott Smith, current president at BioAtla and former president and chief operating officer at Celgene, has been named chairman of the board.

Brian Bloom, Dr. Paul Lammers, Dr. John Holyoake, and independent director Cynthia Collins, president and CEO at Editas Medicine, will remain on the Triumvira board.

Wedbush PacGrow acted as the exclusive placement agent for the series A financing. Shanghai Elite Choices LLC served as an advisor to Triumvira.

Triumvira Immunologics, Inc. is a clinical stage immunotherapy company with the vision of developing novel T-cell therapies that are safer and more efficacious than current cell therapy cancer treatments, including chimeric antigen receptor and engineered T-cell receptor therapies.

Our proprietary T-cell Antigen Coupler technology recruits the entire natural T-cell receptor and functions independent of the Major Histocompatibility Complex, potentially allowing for the development of better therapies for a broader range of patients with solid or liquid malignancies and with diseases other than cancer.

With operations spanning North America, our corporate offices are in Austin, Texas, with our research facilities in Hamilton, Ontario.

Northpond Ventures is a global science, medical, and technology-driven venture firm dedicated to building and empowering breakthrough companies in life sciences and technology.

Northpond has in excess of USD 1bn of committed capital, with over 21 businesses represented in its portfolio.

Leaps by Bayer, a unit of Bayer AG, leads impact investments into solutions to some of today's biggest challenges in health and agriculture.

The investment portfolio includes more than 30 companies.

They are all working on potentially breakthrough technologies to overcome some specific challenges such as, e.g. regenerating lost tissue function, reducing the environmental impact of farming, preventing or curing cancer, and others.
Login
Username:

Password: