Quentis, an immuno-oncology therapy developer based on research at Weill Cornell Medicine, has closed a round that included Taiho Pharmaceuticals and AbbVie Ventures.
Quentis Therapeutics, US-based immuno-oncology drug developer based on research at Cornell University, has closed a $48m series A round featuring pharmaceutical companies AbbVie and Taiho, the former investing through its AbbVie Ventures unit.
Venture capital firm Versant Ventures and investment firm Polaris Partners co-led the round along with LS Polaris Innovation Fund, an affiliate of the latter.
The round also featured Alexandria Venture Investments and New York Ventures, respective investment vehicles for real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities and the state of New York’s Empire State Development, as well as VC fund Yonghua Capital.
Versant Ventures’ biotech incubator, Highline Therapeutics, formed Quentis in partnership with Weill Cornell Medicine, the medical school of Cornell University. It is working on cancer immunotherapies that modulate stress response pathways in the microenvironments of tumours.
Quentis will use the funding to advance its lead drug candidate, a small-molecule inhibitor, into clinical trials next year. The cash will also support recruitment and the development of its product pipeline.
The company’s technology is based on research by Laurie Glimcher, formerly dean of Weill Cornell Medicine and now CEO of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Juan Cubillos-Ruiz, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology in obstetrics and gynaecology at Weill Cornell.
Michael Aberman, president and CEO of Quentis, said: “We have witnessed great progress in our ability to harness the immune system to fight cancer. However, despite these advances, the effectiveness of immunotherapy remains limited, and many patients and many types of cancer do not respond to treatment.
“At Quentis, we are excited to be part of the next generation of immuno-oncology companies that are pursuing new therapeutic approaches to hopefully enable more cancer patients to benefit from immunotherapy.”
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.
