Natick Firm Raises $48.2M To Advance Cancer Drug
Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage Natick firm that's developing a cutting-edge cancer treatment drug, has completed a Series B round of financing that will take the biotechnology startup to the next level.
The company said it raised $48.2 million in its latest series, which was supported by private investors along with the healthcare investment firm Delphi Ventures of California. Michael Kauffman, Karyopharm's CEO and co-founder, said the money will be used to bring its lead drug, KPT-330, through full clinical development.
'Truly Novel Therapeutics'
The cash infusion follows a $30 million Series A financing round, which allowed Karyopharm to enter its first human trials to test the oral cancer drug last summer. Combined with initial seed funding, Karyopharm has raised $80 million since it was founded in 2008.
"We appreciate the support of our current and new investors and their belief in the potential of (our) platform as a source of truly novel therapeutics," Kauffman said in a statement.
The company bills itself as a leader in the new field of nuclear transport modulators, which treat aggressive blood-borne cancers and solid tumors in humans and animals. Developed by Dr. Sharon Shacham, co-founder of Karyopharm, the drug works by returning displaced proteins to the nuclei of affected cells, where they can audit the cells for damage in cases in which cancer had disabled this process. There are no other cancer drugs on the market that treat cancer in this way, according to Karyopharm.
Bringing The Drug To Market
Karyopharm is developing the drug for both human and veterinary applications, but bringing the drug to market is likely still years away, it said. To support the next phase of development, the company said it will add a handful of new managers to its firm.
The company is still in the middle of two Phase 1 clinical studies testing the effectiveness of the drug on patients with advanced cancer, and anticipates initiating pivotal trials on KPT-330 for drug marketing approval in the first half of 2014, according to a statement.
Image source: Freedigitalphotos.net
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