Therapy Areas: Oncology
Tentarix Biotherapeutics Emerges with USD 50m Series A
15 October 2021 - - US-based biotechnology company Tentarix Biotherapeutics LP has closed a USD 50m series A investment co-led by Versant Ventures and Samsara BioCapital, the company said.

Tentarix said its platform creates next generation antibody-based multifunctional biotherapeutics that achieve unprecedented specificity and unique activity.

Such products can conditionally activate or inhibit specific cell populations, for example, only activating immune cells that kill cancer cells without activating other immune cells that may create adverse effects.

Previously, the field of multifunctional biotherapeutics has been largely limited to engaging only two targets and has predominantly focused on a few areas of biology, such as T cell engagers.

These limitations are due to challenges in discovering molecules that have the desired pharmacology, functional activity, and manufacturability.

Tentarix said it overcomes these historical challenges. The company's proprietary platform facilitates high throughput discovery and optimization of biotherapeutics with high cell selectivity, differentiated functionality, and robust mammalian expression that enables molecular developability.

The company has generated proof of concept data in multiple receptor classes.

The lead program is a multifunctional therapeutic with one subunit that targets the IL2R gamma receptor, a subunit that targets the IL2R beta receptor and other subunits that bind to cell surface proteins on a specific subset of T cells.

Potent activity only occurs when all targets are engaged simultaneously to direct powerful biology to this important subset of cells.

Tentarix is advancing programs in many other fields including cell type specific reprogramming and cell population specific delivery and internalization.

Tentarix is led by an executive team with experience in discovering and developing biologics.

More than 30 individuals that include experts in protein engineering, cell surface proteomics, and discovery technology have been assembled in San Diego, California and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Versant Ventures is a healthcare venture capital firm. Samsara BioCapital is a biotech investment fund.
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