SAN DIEGO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kinnate Biopharma Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of small molecule kinase inhibitors for difficult-to-treat, genomically-defined cancers, today announced that it has raised $98 million in a Series C financing. The financing was led by RA Capital Management with participation from additional new investors: Viking Global Investors; Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners; Fidelity Management & Research Company, LLC; Janus Henderson Investors; Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company); Boxer Capital of Tavistock Group; Logos Capital; and an investment fund associated with SVB Leerink. Existing investors Foresite Capital, OrbiMed, Nextech Invest, and Vida Ventures also participated in the round. In December 2019, Kinnate closed a $74.5 million Series B financing.
“In just over two years, Kinnate has built a proprietary pipeline of kinase inhibitors from the ground up, and this significant financing positions us to advance at least one of our lead product candidates into clinical development in the first half of next year,” said Nima Farzan, CEO of Kinnate. “We are pleased to expand our syndicate of world-class healthcare investors during this exciting time of growth for the company. Their expertise will be invaluable as we execute on our vision of increasing the availability of targeted therapies for the many cancer patients who currently lack access to effective precision medicines.”
Through its deep expertise in structure-based drug discovery, translational research, and patient-driven precision medicine, Kinnate has developed a wholly owned kinase inhibitor portfolio of new targeted therapy candidates that aim to help patients who are non-responders or express resistance to currently available precision medicines. The company’s lead preclinical programs include small molecule inhibitors targeting specific classes of BRAF kinase mutations (Class II and Class III mutations) and FGFR2 or FGFR3 alterations that aim to overcome resistance commonly limiting the efficacy of existing therapies. The company is also advancing a number of other research programs. To help advance these programs, Kinnate is working with leaders at experienced precision medicine cancer centers including Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.
“The rapid advancement of genomic technologies has enabled the identification of many more people who may benefit from genomically-targeted therapies. However, because of non-response or resistance mutations, many fail to benefit from these potentially life-saving medicines,” said Peter Kolchinsky, PhD, managing partner at RA Capital Management. “We are proud to support the Kinnate team and see tremendous potential for their lead programs to significantly increase the number of people who could benefit from targeted precision oncology therapeutics.”
About Kinnate Biopharma Inc.
Kinnate Biopharma Inc. is focused on the discovery and development of small molecule kinase inhibitors for difficult-to-treat, genomically-defined cancers. Our mission is to expand the reach of targeted therapeutics by developing products for underserved populations. We utilize our deep expertise in structure-based drug discovery, translational research, and patient-driven precision medicine, which we refer to as our Kinnate Discovery Engine, to develop targeted therapies. Headquartered in San Diego, the Kinnate team is composed of drug discovery experts supported by world-class scientific advisors and investors. For more information, please visit www.kinnate.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
