On December 17, 2019 Innovative Cellular Therapeutics (ICT), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing a comprehensive platform of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies for liquid and solid tumors, reported that it has closed a U.S. dollar Series B+ equity financing for an undisclosed amount (Press release, Innovative Cellular Therapeutics, DEC 17, 2019, View Source [SID1234553316]). The lead investor, LH Ventures, is a prominent venture capital firm targeting disruptive technologies in the healthcare sector and other innovations. Proceeds from the capital raise will be used to advance ICTCAR014 – ICT’s next generation CD19-targeting armored CAR-T cell therapy that expresses a dominant negative PD-1 protein to block immunosuppression by cancer cells – into a U.S. clinical trial in the first part of 2020, and to further develop ICT’s "CoupledCAR" CAR-T cell therapy platform in solid tumors.
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"We are deeply impressed by the ICT team, their innovation capabilities and the response of the initial patients to the Company’s next generation armored dominant negative PD-1 CAR-T cell therapy and CoupledCAR technologies," said Xin Xie, Ph.D., Partner at LH Ventures. "We believe ICT’s platform technologies will create significant breakthroughs in the fight against both liquid and solid tumors."
"We are excited to have LH Ventures support the expansion of our global activities and help us advance the clinical development of our next generation CAR-T technologies for liquid and solid tumors in the United States," said Larry (Lei) Xiao, Ph.D., ICT’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer. "They are joined by a group of other renowned, international investors who also believe in the viability of our platform technologies."
About LH Ventures
LH Ventures is a prominent venture capital firm targeting early stage opportunities of innovation and disruptive technologies. It boasts an investment team consisting of entrepreneurs, scientists, doctors, and capital market experts. LH Ventures identifies teams and companies which have significant value potential and helps them grow into industry leaders.
About ICTCAR014
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared ICT’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application for ICTCAR014, a next generation CD19-targeting CAR-T cell therapy that expresses a dominant negative PD-1 protein to block immunosuppression by cancer cells. ICT is moving ICTCAR014 into a U.S. clinical trial. ICTCAR014, referred to as an "armored" CAR-T cell therapy, has already shown encouraging results in proof-of-concept human trials in China. As highlighted in ICT’s presentation at the November 2019 Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper) meeting, ICTCAR014 demonstrated a 92.3% objective response rate (53.8% complete remission; 38.5% partial remission) in 13 initial patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Significant tumor shrinkage and limited toxicity were observed.