Deerfield sets Nuvalent in motion with $50m series A

Nuvalent, a US-based small molecule cancer therapy producer exploiting Harvard University research, officially launched yesterday with $50m of series A funding from healthcare-focused investment firm Deerfield Management.
Nuvalent has assembled a portfolio of small molecule drug candidates aimed at tackling resistance to existing medications caused by mutated kinase proteins in cancer cells.
The series A capital will go to advancing two lead programmes being developed in parallel, NUV-520 and NUV-655. Both target wild-type genetic mechanisms linked to non-small cell lung cancer in a bid to bypass kinase-driven resistance.
NUV-520 is also believed to be optimised to improve treatment options for patients whose cancer has spread and penetrated into the central nervous system.
The spinout expects to initiate a phase 1/2 trial to investigate NUV-520 in the second half of 2021, followed by a phase 1/2 trial for NUV-655 in the first half of 2022.
The kinase-targeted approach originated from research guided by Matthew Shair, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University who will serve on Nuvalent’s board and act as its head scientific adviser.
Shair said: “Our goal at Nuvalent is to develop medicines with the potential to achieve deep and durable responses with minimal side effects. Off-target kinases sometimes differ from mutant oncogenic kinases by minor differences at the drug binding site, which has made it challenging for drug developers to achieve the desired level of selectivity.
“The Nuvalent approach leverages deep expertise in structure-based drug design and innovative molecular structures, allowing us to thread the needle and achieve high affinity and unparalleled selectivity against drug-resistant targets in cancer.”