Link Cell Therapies upsizes Series A to $90M, doses first patient
What's the deal? Link Cell Therapies has upsized its Series A financing to $90 million, adding $30 million to an earlier $60 million round. The South San Francisco- and Austin-based oncology company also began clinical dosing of its lead therapy and named a new chief executive officer.
What's the company building? Link uses logic-gating technology to develop CAR-T therapies for solid tumors and blood cancers. Its lead program, LNK001, is an AND-gated CAR-T therapy that activates only when it detects two antigens, CAIX and ENPP3, both highly expressed in most clear cell renal cell carcinoma tumors.
Why the dual-antigen design? CAIX has long been an attractive target in renal cell carcinoma, but conventional CAR-T cells directed against it have caused off-tumor toxicity in the biliary epithelium, where CAIX is also present. By gating activity on both antigens, LNK001 aims to preserve antitumor potency while sparing healthy tissue.
Where does it stand? LNK001 is being evaluated in a Phase 1 study in advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma, with dosing now underway at MD Anderson Cancer Center. The therapy is manufactured at CTMCDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a joint venture between ResilienceDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and MD Anderson.
Who's backing it? Investors include Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Kyowa KirinDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the MD Anderson Cancer Focus FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Samsara BioCapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Sheatree CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Sherpa Healthcare PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Western Technology Investment, and Wing Venture CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The extra capital will advance a second solid tumor program in colorectal cancer and expand the pipeline.
New leadership. Jie D'Elia joins as chief executive officer and board member, arriving from SystImmuneDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, where she was CEO, and following eleven years at Bristol Myers Squibb. Friedrich Graf Finckenstein joins as chief medical officer, while co-founder Brian Slingerland, previously on the board, becomes executive chair. Slingerland earlier co-founded Stemcentrx, which AbbVie acquired in 2016 for $6.2 billion.
The signal: At $90 million, Link's round sits above roughly 97% of all US health Series A rounds on record, a signal of investor conviction in logic-gated cell therapy for solid tumors — a field that has struggled to match CAR-T's success in blood cancers.
Read more: prnewswire.com
Image credit: Link Cell Therapies
