Boosted by a partnership with the National Cancer Institute and $20 million in new funding, a California biotech startup is advancing new personalized immunotherapies for cancer.
Kite Pharma Inc. disclosed in a SEC filing this week that it raised $16.4 million, which is likely part of a $20 million raise the company announced earlier this month. In a statement, Kite said new investor Alta Partners joined Pontifax Ltd., Commercial Street Capital and individual investors in the round.
Under its partnership, Kite has access to NCI’s pipeline of autologous peripheral blood T cells, engineered with tumor-specific T-cell receptors and chimeric antigen receptors. These cells can be directed to multiple hematological and solid tumor types, although Kite has not said specifically which cancers it plans to target. Phase I studies are already underway to collect proof-of-concept data, CEO Aya Jakobovits told FierceBiotech earlier this month.
The process of removing T cells from a patient, genetically reprogramming them and re-injecting them into the patient has been FDA-approved and brought to market in the form of Provenge for prostate cancer and Yervoy for melanoma. Kite says the limited patient populations that stand to benefit from those expensive treatments, and the need to improve their effects and durability, provides an opportunity for new therapies that restore and empower the immune system.
Kite was formed in 2009 in Los Angeles. CEO Jakobovits is the former head of R&D at Astellas Pharma.
