On October 7, 2020 Sensei Biotherapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing personalized yet off the shelf immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases, reported the completion of a $28.5 million equity financing (Press release, Sensei Biotherapeutics, OCT 7, 2020, View Source [SID1234568267]). The financing was co-led by Cambrian Biopharma and H&S Ventures, along with participation from new investors Future Ventures, Christian Angermayer’s Apeiron Investment Group, and Presight Ventures, Apeiron’s U.S. arm.
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Sensei is currently advancing multiple clinical and pre-clinical studies with their lead Immunophage program, SNS-301, a bacteriophage engineered to express aspartate β-hydroxylase (ASPH), a tumor associated antigen. The proceeds from the Series AA financing will enable the further development of SNS-301 and enable the advancement of Sensei’s pipeline of novel immunotherapies based on its Immunophage platform, which combines a vaccine’s ability to generate antigen-specific B- and T-cells with payloads of immunomodulatory nanobodies. Sensei Bio is building an extensive R&D infrastructure for the discovery of Immunophage, including GMP manufacturing, and is creating libraries of Immunophage that will be combined to create personalized yet off the shelf cocktails based on the genetic profile of each patient’s tumor.
"With this new funding, we advance our vision for establishing a new and disruptive class of immunotherapies called Immunophage, based on engineered bacteriophage," said John Celebi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sensei Biotherapeutics. "We are poised for significant progress as this funding enables us to expand our clinical programs for SNS-301 and operate our Immunophage platform at scale. We are grateful for the support from both new and existing investors and I look forward to further realizing Sensei’s potential and building out this new class of immunotherapies."
"Sensei’s phage platform represents a transformative leap in immuno-oncology, with a cancer vaccine that can induce all the elements of a robust anti-tumor immune response. With experienced management and scientific teams, Sensei is well positioned to become a leader in next generation of immune-oncology therapeutics," said James Peyer, CEO of Cambrian Biopharma. "We are pleased to support their highly unique platform approach and advance these therapies clinically."
In its next stage of growth, Sensei Bio will employ its proprietary platform to discover novel classes of cancer immunotherapies and advance lead candidates toward the clinic. These approaches include the following:
The development of select immunomodulatory nanobodies, camelid-based antibodies, that can be deployed as Immunophage payloads or stand-alone therapeutics.
The expansion of Sensei’s library based approach by engineering Immunophage targeting additional tumor associated antigens.
The deployment of customized yet off-the-shelf Immunophage cocktail therapies targeting tumor associated antigens, neoantigens, and virally-based cancer antigens.
A novel antibody-based approach to novel checkpoint inhibition and other methods of altering the tumor microenvironment toward anti-tumor immunity.
Potential expansion of its therapeutic area focus into infectious diseases based on partnerships with Pharma companies and government entities.