Cleave Biosciences, a Burlingame, CA-based biopharmaceutical company, completed a $37m Series B financing.
Backers included new investors Celgene, Nextech Invest and Arcus Ventures as well as existing investors 5AM Ventures, Clarus Ventures, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Orbimed Advisors, U.S. Venture Partners, Astellas Venture Management and Osage University Partners.
The company intends to use the funds for further clinical development of CB-5083, its lead oncology drug candidate, and discovery efforts related to its AAA ATPase platform. In conjunction with the funding, Alfred Scheidegger, Ph.D., founding partner and CEO of Nextech Invest, joined Cleave’s board of directors, along with Carol Gallagher, Pharm.D., partner at NEA.
Led by Laura Shawver, Ph.D., chief executive officer, Cleave Biosciences develops drugs that target protein homeostasis systems and improve the treatment of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. The company’s CB-5083 is an oral inhibitor of p97, a critical enzyme that controls various aspects of protein homeostasis and has the potential to treat a wide range of cancers, including both solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.
CB-5083 is currently being evaluated in two Phase 1 trials in patients with advanced disease and no standard of care:
– CLC-101 in patients with solid tumors, and
– CLC-102 in patients with lymphoid hematologic malignancies, including multiple myeloma.
CB-5083 has been granted Orphan Drug Designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of multiple myeloma.
FinSMEs
08/08/2016