WESTPORT, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Intensity Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company developing proprietary cancer immunotherapy products, today announced that it has secured $10 million in new capital from a Series A preferred stock financing. Participants included Batterson Venture Capital, VCapital, FastForward Innovations, SalvaRx Group PLC, Declan Doogan M.D. and Jim Mellon as well as several other accredited investors and family offices.
“Our lead drug, INT230-6, has shown strong results in severe murine models of metastatic cancer via a combination of direct tumor killing and immune system activation. Not only do a high percentage of animals given large tumors achieve a complete response, those animals develop a “vaccine–like” protection against re-exposure to the same cancer,” said Intensity’s President and CEO, Lewis H. Bender. “We received strong interest from investors to participate in our Series A financing, the amount of which was increased to meet demand. Proceeds will be used to fund operations, manufacture the clinical supplies, permit the needed regulatory filings and conduct a series of clinical trial cohorts in cancer patients with various tumor types.”
Mr. Bender continued, “The addition of Drs. Doogan and Leahy to our Board will greatly enhance our Company. Both executives are seasoned, experienced drug developers with great business expertise. We are looking forward to working closely with them as we move forward into human trials.”
Dr. Doogan, M.D., commented, "Intensity’s strong preclinical data convinced me that the technology being pioneered by the Company has the potential to be a major step forward for the treatment of solid tumors. It was their novel, anti-cancer, immune-based therapeutic approach combined with the solid management team that prompted me to become involved with the Company.”
“The results Intensity have achieved and the speed with which the Company advanced from product concept to an IND-ready product candidate is remarkable,” Emer Leahy, Ph.D. added. “I’ve worked with Lew Bender on the Board of NYBA for a number of years and I am excited to have the opportunity to do so again - now as a Board member where I look forward to supporting Intensity’s talented management team in their efforts to create a valuable new drug to treat cancer.”
About Declan Doogan, M.D.
Dr. Doogan is a seasoned drug development executive and life sciences investor with more than 30 years’ experience in the global pharmaceutical industry in both major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. He joined Pfizer in 1982, where he held a number of senior positions in R&D in the USA, UK and Japan, laterally as the Senior Vice President and Head of Worldwide Development. Since leaving Pfizer in 2007, Dr. Doogan has held executive roles in small pharmaceutical companies, including Amarin (AMRN: Nasdaq). Beyond his executive career, Dr. Doogan is an investor in emerging biotechnology companies, and is a partner at Mediqventures. He holds a number of Board appointments at pharmaceutical companies, including Biohaven Pharmaceuticals where he is a co-founder and Chairman. Dr. Doogan has also held professorships at Harvard School of Public Health, Glasgow University Medical School and Kitasato University (Tokyo). He received his medical degree from Glasgow University in 1975. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and the Faculty Pharmaceutical Medicine and holds a Doctorate of Science at the University of Kent in the UK.
About Emer Leahy, Ph.D.
Dr. Emer Leahy received her Ph.D. in Neuropharmacology from University College Dublin, Ireland, and her MBA from Columbia University. She is CEO of PsychoGenics Inc., a profitable preclinical CNS service company, CEO of PGI Drug Discovery LLC, a company engaged in psychiatric drug discovery with three partnered Phase II clinical programs and Adjunct Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Dr. Leahy has more than 25 years of experience in drug discovery, clinical develop and business development for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including extensive knowledge of technology assessment, licensing, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic planning. Prior to her appointment as CEO of PsychoGenics, she was Vice President of Business Development, a position she also held at American Biogenetic Sciences and at AMBI Inc. Dr. Leahy served on the Emerging Companies Section Governing Board for the Board of Directors of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), and currently serves on the Business Review Board for the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation and the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Rett Syndrome Foundation.
About INT230-6
INT230-6 is a novel, anti-cancer drug product able to disperse through tumors and diffuse into cancer cells. The product was identified from Intensity’s DfuseRxSM platform technology. Using preclinical in vivo models of severe cancer, INT230-6 treatment results in substantial improvement in overall survival compared to standard therapies. The product can completely clear large tumors in animal models. Complete responders have long-term, durable protection even after multiple re-inoculations of the cancer. INT230-6 administration has shown an increased recruitment of immune cells to the tumor micro-environment.
About Intensity Therapeutics, Inc.
Intensity Therapeutics, Inc. is a biotechnology company whose mission is to greatly extend the lives of patients with cancer. Intensity Therapeutics is pioneering a new immune-based approach to treat cancer - in situ vaccination. The Company uses its DfuseRxSM platform technology to create new products capable of attenuating (killing) a tumor in a manner that allows for the adaptive immune system to recognize the cancer and attack tumors. Further information can be found at www.intensitytherapeutics.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding Intensity Therapeutics’ plans, future operations and objectives. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual performance or achievements to be materially different from those currently anticipated. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements about the initiation and timing of future clinical trials.
