The round was led by Pfizer Venture Investments (PVI) with participation from new investors Alexandria Venture Investments and existing investors U.S. Venture Partners, Abingworth, Novartis Venture Fund, SR One, The Column Group, Altitude Life Science Ventures, Sectoral Asset Management, Abbvie Biotech Ventures, BioMed Ventures, and Astellas Ventures. In conjunction with the financing, Elaine V. Jones, Ph.D., vice president, PVI, joined eFFECTOR’s board of directors.
The company intends to use the funds to advance:
– a broad Phase 2 development program for eFT508, its investigational small molecule MNK1/2 inhibitor, including a combination study in colorectal cancer with avelumab* (BAVENCIO), conducted under a clinical collaboration agreement between eFFECTOR, Pfizer and Merck KGaA, and
– eFT226, an inhibitor of the eukaryotic initiation factor 4A (eIF4A), into the clinic in 2018.
Led by Steve Worland, Ph.D., president and CEO, eFFECTOR Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advancing selective translation regulators as a new class of small molecule therapeutics for cancer. The company’s investigational compounds are designed to restore translational control to halt underlying disease mechanisms while preserving healthy physiological processes. The most advanced program focuses on the development of eFT508, a selective translation regulator part of a new class of cancer treatments known as immunotherapies that are designed to harness the body’s own immune system in fighting cancer. eFT508 is an oral inhibitor of MNK1 and MNK2. MNK1/2 are terminal kinases in key oncogenic signaling pathways, including KRAS-BRAF-MEK-ERK, and are activated by the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) in multiple immune cell types.
The company has additional selective translation regulator programs currently in discovery and development and maintains global rights to all of its development programs.
FinSMEs
24/07/2017