Simcha Therapeutics Raises $40M in Series B Funding

Simcha Therapeutics, a New Haven, Ct.-based biotechnology company developing cytokine-based cancer immunotherapies, raised $40m in Series B funding.

The round was led by SR One Capital Management with participation from BVF Partners, Samsara BioCapital, Rock Springs Capital, ArrowMark Partners, and Logos Capital. In conjunction with the financing, Simeon George, MD, Chief Executive Officer of SR One Capital Management, has joined the Simcha Therapeutics Board of Directors.

The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand its development efforts initiating Phase 1/2 Study to evaluate novel Interleukin-18 variant in cancer.

Founded in 2018 by Aaron Ring, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Immunobiology at the Yale School of Medicine. Simcha Therapeutics uses directed evolution to engineer novel cytokines designed to unlock the immune system. Its lead program, ST-067, is a designer IL-18 cytokine that has shown potent antitumor effects in animal models, both as a monotherapy and when combined with anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors, as described in Nature in June 2020. A Phase 1 clinical trial commenced in the second half of 2021.

FinSMEs

31/01/2022