PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tmunity Therapeutics, Inc., a private, clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on saving and improving lives by delivering the full potential of next-generation T cell immunotherapy, today announced an additional $35 million Series A investment from Kleiner Perkins and affiliates. This investment brings the total Tmunity Series A financing to $135 million. Tmunity is developing a diversified portfolio of novel treatments that exhibit best-in-class control over T cell activation and direction in the body.
Kleiner Perkins and affiliates join existing Tmunity investors Ping An Ventures, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Gilead Sciences, Inc., Be The Match BioTherapies, University of Pennsylvania and Lilly Asia Ventures.
“We welcome Kleiner Perkins and affiliates to an impressive list of committed investors who share in our vision to provide novel cell and gene therapy approaches and next-generation personalized treatments for patients,” said Usman “Oz” Azam, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tmunity. “We are proud of this significant financial raise and enthusiastic about the prospects ahead for our company.”
“Tmunity is focused on T cell therapy (CAR-T and TCR), one of the most promising and exciting technologies to emerge in the treatment of cancer,” said Beth Seidenberg, MD, general partner at Kleiner Perkins. “The field has been validated with approved therapies for B cell malignancies and the goal is to apply the technology and therapy to the treatment of solid tumors such as prostate, pancreatic, ovarian and other cancers that remain some of the toughest to cure.”
As previously announced, the proceeds from the Series A will be used to advance and expand the business and operational structure of Tmunity to support the rapid translation, development and manufacture of its portfolio of novel T cell based immunotherapies, first for the treatment of cancer.
Tmunity was founded on an exclusive collaboration and license agreement with the University of Pennsylvania, offering proprietary technologies and the unparalleled expertise in first-in-patient cell and gene therapies of its scientific founders, led by Carl H. June, MD. Today, Tmunity is uniquely positioned to integrate the best technologies and pursue multiple approaches to engineered T cell therapies simultaneously in order to advance treatments into the clinic rapidly, optimize and scale manufacturing, pursue regulatory approvals aggressively, and thus deliver them effectively to patients.
About Kleiner Perkins
Kleiner Perkins partners with the brightest entrepreneurs to turn disruptive ideas into world-changing businesses. With $10 billion raised through 20 venture funds and four growth funds, the firm has invested in over 850 companies including pioneers such as Google, App Dynamics, Amazon, Flexus Biosciences, Nest, Waze, Twitter, JD.com and Square. Kleiner Perkins offers entrepreneurs years of operating experience, puts them at the center of an influential network, and accelerates their companies from success to significance. For more information, visit http://www.kpcb.com and follow us @kpcb.
About Tmunity Therapeutics
Tmunity is a private, clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on saving and improving lives by delivering the full potential of next-generation T cell immunotherapy to patients with devastating diseases. Integrating a foundational collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) with the groundbreaking scientific, clinical and manufacturing expertise and demonstrated track record of its founders (Carl June, MD; Bruce Blazar, MD; Bruce Levine, PhD; Yangbing Zhao, MD, PhD; Jim Riley, PhD; and Anne Chew, PhD), Tmunity represents a new center of gravity in translational T cell medicine. The company is developing a diversified portfolio of novel treatments that exhibit best-in-class control over T cell activation and direction in the body, with an initial focus in cancer with two programs currently in the clinic. With headquarters in Philadelphia, Tmunity utilizes laboratories and production facilities at Penn and its own dedicated cGMP manufacturing facility in Norristown, PA, to pursue process improvement and production scale-up in support of clinical development of its T cell therapies. For more information, visit www.tmunity.com.
