A company developing cell therapies for cancers and autoimmune diseases has closed a financing round three times the size of the last one.
Watertown, Massachusetts-based SQZ Biotechnologies said Wednesday that it had raised $72 million in an oversubscribed Series C financing round. The company raised $24 million in a Series B financing round in 2016. Existing investors that participated in the latest round include Bridger Healthcare Partners, Global Health Science Fund, Google venture capital arm GV, the JDRF T1D Fund, NanoDimension and Polaris, joined by new investors Everblue, Illumina Ventures, Invus, Viva Ventures Biotech Group and Orient Life. NanoDimension and Polaris had led the initial $16 million of the Series B round in September 2016, while GV and Quark Venture provided an $8 million expansion in December of that year.
The company will initially apply its lead program, in antigen-presenting cells, in a number of human papillomavirus-related tumor indications, while future applications will address solid tumors across cancer types. That program is in preclinical development, according to the company’s pipeline page. Other programs include protecting biologic drugs from immune system reactions and suppression of auto-immune reactions.
The company’s APCs are designed to work by delivering tumor-associated antigens that aim to prime and activate the patient’s killer T cells against a tumor target in order to infiltrate tumors and destroy them, while the immunity programs work on similar mechanisms. Type 1 diabetes is among the diseases the company is pursuing, hence the investment from the JDRF T1D Fund.
Currently, two cell therapies – both CAR-T therapies that won Food and Drug Administration approval last year – are indicated in oncology, namely Novartis’s Kymriah – for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma – and Gilead Sciences’ Yescarta, for DLBCL. Several other companies are developing CAR-T and T-cell receptor therapies as well.
Meanwhile, Gaithersburg, Maryland-based NexImmune is also developing APCs, albeit in different indications. The firm – which was acquired last year by a consortium of companies that includes Teva Pharmaceuticals Chairman Sol Barer, Sunflower Life Sciences managing director Joshua Barer and former Medtronic CEO William Hawkins – is developing its therapy in early-stage clinical trials this year in acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome. In January, the company raised $23 million in a Series A funding round, led by ArrowMark Partners and Barer & Son Capital, with participation from Piedmont Capital Partners.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
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UPDATE: Subsequent to publication, a spokesperson for SQZ told MedCity News that one investor, JMCR Partners, had informed the company that it had changed its name to Viva Ventures Biotech Group. The article has been updated.
