Aptevo lands $1.5M cancer research grant for solid-tumour immunotherapy
What's the deal? Seattle-based Aptevo TherapeuticsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has won a $1.5 million non-dilutive grant from the Andy Hill Cancer Research Endowment (CARE) FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
The money will fund early development work on APVO451, the clinical-stage biotech's trispecific immunotherapy candidate for solid tumours.
Awarded under the CARE Fund's Implementation and Outcomes Research program, the grant supports investigational new drug (IND)-enabling studies. CARE Fund grants back cancer research conducted in Washington State.
Why now? Aptevo aims to select APVO451 as a development candidate by the end of 2026, with IND-enabling studies due to start in the first quarter of 2027.
The funding arrives as the company pushes its immune-activation platform into solid tumours, a strategic priority for its pipeline.
APVO451 targets three functions at once: nectin-4, a marker found in multiple solid tumours; CD40 on antigen-presenting cells; and CD3 on T-cells. The goal is to concentrate immune activity inside the tumour and direct it at cancer cells.
What could go wrong? Solid tumours remain a tough target for immunotherapy because the tumour microenvironment can suppress immune activity.
"Solid tumors continue to present significant challenges for immunotherapy, particularly because the tumor microenvironment can limit effective immune activation," said Michelle Nelson, senior director at Aptevo and principal investigator on the study.
APVO451 is still preclinical, meaning years of testing lie ahead before any path to patients. The grant funds early studies, not the full journey to approval.
The signal: Backing from the CARE Fund — a government and non-profit investor channelling public money into Washington State cancer research — gives breakout-stage Aptevo a non-dilutive runway to push APVO451 toward development candidate selection by year-end 2026. For a clinical-stage biotech, securing merit-reviewed public funding to extend its immune-activation platform into solid tumours marks a low-cost way to validate its trispecific approach ahead of the capital-intensive IND-enabling phase.
Read more: PR Inside
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