Building on translational science from Stanford, Jasper has secured funding to progress its Amgen-licensed conditioning agent for patients awaiting stem cell transplants.
Jasper Therapeutics, a US-based stem cell transplant conditioning agent developer leveraging research from Stanford University and drug producer Amgen, launched on Friday with $35m of series A funding co-led by Qiming Venture Partners USA and Abingworth.
Alexandria Venture Investments, the strategic investment arm of life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, and Surveyor Capital, an equities unit of asset management group Citadel, also took part in the round.
Jasper Therapeutics is working on antibodies that act as conditioning agents to protect the body ahead of haematopoietic cell transplants – the transfusions of stem cells that transform into any blood cell subtype to treat certain forms of cancer and autoimmune diseases.
The company’s lead candidate, JSP191, is currently undergoing phase 1 clinical trials in patients who have previously failed stem cell transplants for severe combined immunodeficiency – a rare genetic disorder that arrests immune system function.
Jasper will invest the series A cash in JSP191’s clinical development, including further trials of the asset in patients with haematological cancers.
The agent’s scope could also be expanded to cover patients receiving stem cell-driven gene therapies, as well as those awaiting transplants for acute myeloid leukaemia, myelodysplastic syndrome or autoimmune diseases.
JSP191 was discovered by Amgen, which licensed the drug to Jasper Therapeutics alongside translational science and materials originating from Stanford University.
The company’s co-founders are former Stanford University postdoctoral scholar Susan Prohaska and Judith Shizuru, a professor of medicine and paediatrics at Stanford’s immunology and blood and marrow transplantation programs, in addition to the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.
Kurt von Emster, managing partner of Abingworth, and Anna French, principal at Qiming Venture Partners, joined Jasper’s board of directors in connection with the series A round.
