On June 1, 2021 Kineta, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel immunotherapies in oncology reported the close of its $10 million financing round (Press release, Kineta, JUN 1, 2021, View Source;utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=kineta-closes-10-million-financing-round-to-advance-anti-vista-immuno-oncology-program [SID1234583318]). Kineta is eligible to receive up to $25 million in additional financing prior to the end of 2021 to further advance the company’s pipeline of novel immunotherapies. The financing from a syndicate of investors was led by Cheongbo Industrial Co Ltd (CBI).
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Proceeds from this financing will advance Kineta’s lead anti VISTA antibody, KVA12.1 to an IND with the US FDA in 2022.
"We are excited to have the confidence of this leading investor syndicate in supporting KVA12.1 and our pipeline of novel immunotherapies. Closing this financing round further validates the innovative research and development at Kineta", said Shawn Iadonato, PhD, Chief Executive Officer at Kineta. "These new funds provide the resources to advance the preclinical development of our potential best-in-class anti-VISTA antibody to benefit patients with a broad range of solid tumor cancers.
"The innovative science, company strategy and management team at Kineta are well positioned to develop important new therapeutics for managing cancer", said Kyungwon Oh, President of CBI. "We are pleased to join Kineta as a major investor and lead this financing round of the company."
An investor representative from CBI, to be named later in 2021, will be appointed to the Kineta board of directors. Shawn Iadonato, Chief Executive Officer and Craig Philips, President at Kineta will be appointed to the CBI board of directors.
KVA12.1 is Kineta’s lead anti-VISTA antibody in development for the treatment of solid tumors. VISTA is a key driver of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) and is overexpressed on myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) and regulatory T cells (Tregs). It is a critical myeloid cell immune-checkpoint, and VISTA blockade can reprogram suppressive myeloid cells and reactivate antitumor immune function. Blocking VISTA activates an immune cell cascade that increases T cell effector functions to drive an efficient anti-tumor response. Preclinical studies have demonstrated single agent anti-VISTA activity but also demonstrate that targeting VISTA in combination with PD-1, PD-L1 or CTLA-4 can significantly improve the efficacy of those checkpoint inhibitors.