The name of the company’s pretty pithy: Checkmate Pharmaceuticals, so-called because its drug in development serves as a “mate” to checkpoint inhibitors, enhancing their efficacy.
The Cambridge company just launched with a $20 million Series A. It is developing a therapeutic that primes the immune system to attack cancer cells. This $20 million round comes from Sofinnova Ventures and venBio. This round will help Checkmate Pharmaceuticals grow its pipeline of immunotherapy helper drugs.
Checkmate is led by Arthur Krieg, a biotech vet who launched RaNA Therapeutics and served as a top Pfizer executive in oligonucleotide therapeutics. Most recently, he served as chief scientific officer of Sarepta Therapeutics. Interestingly, it looks like he was let go due to clashes in strategy, workflow and politics, according to Adam Feuerstein over at The Street.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
Checkmate Pharmaceuticals operates on the idea that checkpoint inhibitor therapies would be much more effective if they were combined with an agent that could stimulate a person’s immune response. So, on top of the new financing, it’s also licensed a virus-like particle from Switzerland-based Cytos Biotechnology that can activate the immune system – potentially improving outcomes for checkpoint inhibitors like anti-PD-1 and antiPD-L1 antibodies.
The virus-like particle, called CYT003, demonstrated a good safety profile and evidence of immune activity in more than 700 patients treated to date, Checkmate Pharmaceuticals said. However, CYT003 actually failed in Phase 2b clinical trials last year for use in treating allergic asthma.
Photo: Wellcome Images
