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news.TP Therapeutics, a San Diego-based clinical-stage precision oncology company, has raised $80m in a new funding round led by Foresite Capital and venBio Partners.
Image: San Diego-based TP Therapeutics raises $80m in mezzanine financing. Photo: courtesy of rawpixel/Unsplash.com.
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New investors HBM Healthcare Investments (Cayman) and Nextech Invest also took part in the mezzanine financing, said TP Therapeutics.
The new capital secured by the clinical-stage precision oncology company will be used to take Repotrectinib (TPX-0005), its lead product candidate, into a phase 2 trial in early 2019.
Repotrectinib will be evaluated for the treatment of ROS1-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and NTRK-positive solid tumors in the mid-stage trial.
Foresite Capital managing director Brett Zbar said: “TP Therapeutics has made great progress in the development of Repotrectinib, evidenced by the highly encouraging interim Phase 1 data presented recently at the World Conference on Lung Cancer.
“Targeted oncology is an area of focus for us, and the Foresite Capital team welcomes the opportunity to work closely with Athena again in her expanded leadership role.”
The phase 2 trial of Repotrectinib will feature patients who have already received a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) and have developed resistance or were refractory, in addition to those who are TKI treatment-naïve.
Repotrectinib is an orally bioavailable investigational small-molecule inhibitor of ALK, ROS1 and TRK family kinases.
The company said that Repotrectinib has shown potency against wildtype and mutated ALK, ROS1 and TRK family kinases, particularly the clinically significant solvent front mutations, gatekeeper mutations, and emerging compound mutations after various lines of treatment.
Apart from the phase 2 clinical trial of Repotrectinib, TP Therapeutics plans to use a part of the funds to further develop its internally discovered pipeline.
The oncology startup has named a new CEO in Athena Countouriotis, who previously served the company in the role of a chief medical officer.
venBio Partners managing partner Robert Adelman said: “From the early discovery research to Phase 1 clinical development, the team at TP Therapeutics has been thoughtful in its approach to develop a truly differentiated therapy with potential to address some of the most difficult kinase fusions and their mutations.
“We look forward to working with Athena and the management team to advance Repotrectinib into the Phase 2 clinical study and ultimately build on its early success with the other novel assets in TP Therapeutics’ pipeline.”
