Washington Research Foundation and Arch Venture Partners are among the investors in the genomic cancer treatment spinout of University of Minnesota.
ApoGen Biotechnologies, a cancer therapy developer spun out of University of Minnesota, has secured $7m in a series A round featuring Arch Venture Partners, the VC firm spun out of Chicago University.
WRF Capital, the investment arm of Washington Research Foundation, a commercialisation firm focused on Washington state, also participated, as did biotech investment firm Accelerator Corporation, itself also backed by WRF.
Other investors include pharmaceutical firms AbbVie, Eli Lilly, WuXi PharmaTech and Johnson & Johnson, as well as Alexandria Venture Investments, part of real estate developer Alexandria Real Estate Equities, and Watson Fund.
ApoGen is developing drug therapies that will disrupt the development of drug resistance by cancer cells by targeting mechanisms that cause genomic mutation. It is initially targeting an antiviral element of the innate immune system that is a prominent source of cancer mutation.
AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson participated in the round through respective subsidiaries AbbVie Ventures and Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site Global Corporate Venturing.
