Molecular Templates, Inc., a Georgetown, TX-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of a new class of biologic therapeutics, raised an $8.5m Series C financing.
The round was led by Excel Venture Management, with participation from existing investor Santé Ventures. As part of the financing, Dr. Steven Gullans and Caleb Winder from Excel will join the Board of Directors.
The company, which had also received a $10.6m grant from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) in 2012, intends to advance its lead compound, MT-3724, into clinical trials for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, develop its technology around antibody-drug conjugates, siRNA delivery, and enzyme replacement therapy.
Led by Eric Poma, PhD, CEO and CSO, Molecular Templates has developed a biologics platform technology known as Engineered Toxin Bodies (ETBs) that can be used to develop a multitude of different therapeutics against a variety of diseases. An ETB is comprised of two components:
1) a single-chain variable fragment of an antibody that specifically binds only to a tumor cell, or other target cell, and
2) a component of Shiga-toxin engineered to safely enter targeted cells and kill them.
The lead compound MT-3724 destroys malignant B-cell lymphomas that express the CD20 transmembrane protein.
FinSMEs
08/10/2013