InduPro, a 4-year-old biotech startup with operations in Seattle and Cambridge, Mass., this week announced $77 million in series B funding as it begins a Phase 1 clinical trial of its lead cancer drug candidate.
The company said that the first patient has been dosed in the trial of IDP-001, an experimental antibody-drug conjugate designed to target cancer cells through a combination of two proteins on their surface.
The early-stage trial is enrolling adults with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer and other solid tumors whose disease has progressed following standard treatment. Researchers will evaluate the drug’s safety, tolerability, drug behavior and early signs of antitumor activity.
InduPro is developing drugs based on the spatial relationships between proteins on the surface of cells. The company says its approach can identify combinations of targets that are close together on cancer cells but not on normal tissue, potentially allowing drugs to more selectively attack tumors.
The Series B was led by The Column Group, with participation from Vida Ventures, MRL Ventures Fund, Emerson Collective, Euclidean Capital, Solasta Ventures, Sanofi and Eli Lilly and Company.
“We are delighted to have the support of this outstanding group of life sciences investors and strategic partners who recognize the potential of our proximity-guided platform to create precision therapeutics in oncology and autoimmune disease,” said InduPro CEO Prakash Raman in a press release.
Raman is a longtime biopharma executive who previously served as president and CEO of Ribon Therapeutics. Before that, he spent nearly 14 years at Novartis, where he served as vice president and global head of business development and licensing for the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research.
The company’s president and chief scientific officer is Scott Lesley, who previously served as vice president of discovery biologics at Merck.
InduPro said the new funding will support the Phase 1 development of IDP-001 and further development of its preclinical pipeline, which includes programs targeting cancer and autoimmune diseases.
Earlier this year, InduPro inked a strategic collaboration and licensing agreement with Eli Lilly covering up to three oncology targets, a deal worth up to approximately $950 million.
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