Based on research from academic schools including Princeton, Chicago and Alabama at Birmingham, the oncolytic viral therapy developer has now received more than $80m to date.
Immvira Group, a China-based cancer therapy developer founded by faculty from multiple universities, closed a $58m series B round led by private equity firm Huagai Capital yesterday.
Venture capital firm Apricot Capital also participated in the round, as did private equity firm Cowin Capital and an unnamed existing investor.
Founded in 2015, Immvira is working on cancer drugs intended to provoke the rapid spread of an oncolytic virus that will destroy malignant tumours, while remaining genetically stable for human administration.
The virus is engineered to provide space for additional non-viral genes to augment its potency as an anti-cancer agent, helping to stimulate the immune system into targeting cancer cells without being blocked by their defences.
The company’s lead product candidate, T3011, would be injected directly into the tumour to exploit differences in the patient’s innate immune response.
T3011 is currently undergoing clinical trials in the US, Australia and China. Immvira is also progressing four preclinical oncolytic viral candidates, including a systemically-delivered form of T3011 for lung and liver cancer.
The series B funding will help advance and broaden Immvira’s pipeline. Its technology is based on work by researchers including Bernard Roizman, the Joseph Regenstein Distinguished Service professor emeritus of virology at University of Chicago, and Grace Zhou, former research associate professor at the same institution.
Immvira’s founders also include Thomas Shenk, the James A. Elkins Jr Professor in Princeton University’s Life Sciences department; Richard Whitley, associate director for drug discovery and development at University of Alabama at Birmingham; and Ralph Weichselbaum, chairman of the department of radiation and cellular oncology at University of Chicago Medicine.
The company completed a $15m series A-plus round in January 2019 led by the unnamed investment firm from the latest round. It included Mefund Capital, Leaguer Group, Bohe Angel, Taifu Capital, Triwise Capital and Yonghua Capital and followed a $7.5m series A round backed by undisclosed investors that closed in 2016.
