On March 22, 2022 Affini-T Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company unlocking the power of T cells against oncogenic driver mutations, reported the completion of an oversubscribed $175 million financing co-led by Vida Ventures and Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment unit of Bayer (Press release, Affini-T Therapeutics, MAR 22, 2022, View Source [SID1234610582]). Additional investors participating in the round include Humboldt Fund, The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Catalio Capital Management, Agent Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, Erasca Ventures, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and other leading blue chip life science investors. With proceeds from this financing, the company will operationalize its platform discovery engine and seek to drive multiple oncogene driver programs into the clinic while pursuing complementary technology licenses to bolster its cell therapy platform. To enable and accelerate growth, the company has established a bi-coastal U.S. presence with research labs in Seattle, Washington and headquarters and manufacturing infrastructure in Boston, Massachusetts.
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Affini-T is committed to developing potentially life-changing medicines for patients with intractable solid tumor cancers, who represent a critical unmet need as current treatment options lack durability and efficacy. Its proprietary platform has the potential to deliver transformative therapies for patients with mutant variants of KRAS, the most prevalent oncogenic driver mutation in solid tumors. Treatment options are needed for these patients as KRAS mutations account for up to 30% of all cancers and are particularly frequent in cancers with high mortality rates including lung cancer, colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer.
"By targeting oncogenic drivers like mutated KRAS, we strike at the core genetic mutations that enable tumors to grow and spread," said Jak Knowles, M.D., Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, Affini-T Therapeutics. "Our differentiated platform combines highly active TCRs with unique synthetic biology, allowing us to pioneer novel therapeutic approaches intended to eradicate solid tumors. With proven management, an unparalleled founding team of scientific innovators and leaders in immunology and cellular engineering, we look forward to bringing life-changing medicines to patients in need."
Differentiated Science to Cure Solid Tumor Patients
Affini-T’s proprietary platform is designed to select and engineer the right immune cells to orchestrate a durable and coordinated immune response. Its suite of novel synthetic biology switches can rewrite the rules of the tumor microenvironment, enhancing T cell function to increase durability, build persistent responses and augment tumor infiltration.
"Cell therapies have revolutionized the treatment of cancer, but challenges remain in making this powerful technology effective for a greater variety of cancers," said scientific co-founder Dr. Phil Greenberg, who leads Fred Hutch’s Program in Immunology and holds the Rona Jaffe Foundation Endowed Chair at Fred Hutch. "By collaborating with industry partners, we have the opportunity to move our promising discoveries in the lab closer to benefiting the lives of patients."
"We are delighted to welcome Affini-T as one of the first investments in our Vida III portfolio, representing cutting-edge innovation in cell therapy for solid tumors, which remains a holy grail," said Arjun Goyal, M.D., M.Phil., Co-Founder and Managing Director, Vida Ventures and co-founder of Affini-T. "Their validated discovery workflow has the potential to bring cures to the large, unmet KRAS patient population. We look forward to leveraging our deep cell therapy expertise to support Affini-T’s bold vision to power T cells to cure solid tumors for patients globally."
"Curing and preventing cancer is one of the core focus areas of Leaps by Bayer, as this disease still represents one of today’s most pressing health concerns," said Juergen Eckhardt, M.D., head of Leaps by Bayer. "This is especially true for some difficult-to-treat solid tumors such as pancreatic, lung or colorectal cancer. Addressing KRAS represents a unique opportunity in the development of therapies that promise to address previously untreatable and incurable cancers and we are very excited about the potential of Affini-T’s technology platform."
Industry-Leading Management Team and Scientific Advisors
Affini-T is led by a management team of biotech and pharmaceutical industry leaders with demonstrated track records of success. At its helm is Dr. Knowles, an industry veteran and entrepreneur who most notably was Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Exonics Therapeutics, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at Metagenomi and Vice President, Venture Investments at Leaps by Bayer. Joining Dr. Knowles are Loïc Vincent, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Kim Nguyen, Ph.D., Chief Technical Officer and Kathy Yi, MBA, Chief Operating Officer.
Affini-T has also established a world-class scientific advisory board comprised of its scientific co-founders from Fred Hutch and key innovators in immunology, tumor microenvironment biology and cellular engineering including:
Jim Allison, Ph.D., Nobel Laureate, MD Anderson Cancer Center;
Pam Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., MD Anderson Cancer Center;
Rafi Ahmed, Ph.D., Emory University;
David Kranz, Ph.D., University of Illinois; and
Susan Kaech, Ph.D., Salk Institute.