Amunix raises $73m in Series A financing led by Omega Funds

Boston-based Omega Funds led the financing, with participation from existing investor Frazier Healthcare Partners and new investors Longitude Capital, Redmile Group, Polaris Partners, Casdin Capital, Two River, Venrock, and Delian Capital.

Amunix is focused on advancing a pipeline of novel T cell engagers (XPATs) and cytokines (XPACs) that are selectively activated in the tumor microenvironment and are designed to overcome toxicity and immunogenicity challenges common to both therapeutic classes. Both the XPAT and XPAC platforms leverage the company’s clinically validated XTEN technology, which has demonstrated low immunogenicity, to generate prodrugs.

Amunix plans to utilize the Series A proceeds, along with the $40 million upfront payment from a Roche licensing agreement announced in January 2020, to advance its lead development candidate, AMX-818, an XPAT T cell engager targeting HER2+ solid tumors into the clinic, to progress earlier discovery stage XPAT programs and to initiate XPAC discovery work. The company plans to relocate to South San Francisco later this year to better take advantage of the talent pool.

As part of the Series A financing, Otello Stampacchia, Ph.D., Managing Director and Founder of Omega Funds; David Hirsch, M.D., Ph.D., Managing Director and Founder of Longitude Capital; and James Brush, M.D., Partner at Frazier Healthcare Partners, will join Amunix’s Board of Directors.

“The completion of our Series A financing marks a critical milestone for Amunix, as the investment affords us a significant financial runway to advance our novel pipeline of T cell engagers and cytokines targeting a spectrum of solid tumors,” said Angie You, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Amunix. “Biologic immune activators hold tremendous untapped promise to help many cancer patients achieve better outcomes. We are focused on making this promise a reality by leveraging our clinically validated prodrug platform to deliver T cell engager and cytokine therapies that combine potency with an augmented safety profile and unique ability to evade an undesirable immune response. Our XPAT T cell engager platform holds the potential to deliver off-the-shelf therapies capable of redirecting T cells in the body to fight solid tumors.”

Dr. Stampacchia commented, “We are delighted to have successfully led this financing for Amunix, especially in the current market environment. We are glad to have attracted a syndicate of sophisticated, long-term investors who are familiar with this ever more important therapeutic modality. We look forward to deploying this important platform to address the limitations of other approaches in the space. We see in Amunix’s next-generation XPAT T cell engager platform a great potential to address the biggest hurdle to bringing the benefits of this class to solid tumor cancers patients: on-target off-tumor toxicity.”

Since its founding in 2006, Amunix has operated as a technology licensing company, forging agreements with multiple leading biopharmaceutical companies to leverage XTEN, a proprietary half-life extension technology, and Pro-XTEN, a next-generation prodrug technology. Pro-XTEN utilizes a protease-releasable XTEN polypeptide as a mask, thus enabling localized activation of potent therapies. Pro-XTEN has been clinically validated, with the most advanced program utilizing the technology currently in a pivotal Phase 3 study for a non-oncology indication. Under the leadership of Dr. You, who was appointed CEO in January 2019, Amunix has focused its internal efforts on advancement of the XPAT and XPAC platforms and the company’s proprietary pipeline.

In collaboration with Volker Schellenberger, Ph.D., Amunix’s co-founder and current President and Chief Technology Officer, Dr. You has recruited a high-caliber executive team who brings immuno-oncology experience relevant to the company’s platforms, as well as the necessary expertise to advance its pipeline through approval and launch. In addition to Drs. Schellenberger and You, Amunix’s leadership team includes Mika Derynck, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, formerly Global Head for Cancer Immunotherapy, GI/GU Cancers, Angiogenesis Franchises and China Oncology Development at Genentech; Maninder Hora, Ph.D., Chief Technical Operations Officer, formerly Chief Technical Operations Officer at Nektar Therapeutics; Bryan Irving, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, formerly Chief Scientific Officer at Five Prime Therapeutics; and Darcy Mootz, Ph.D., Chief Business Officer, formerly Chief Business Officer of ORIC Pharmaceuticals.

Source: Company Press Release