LEVERKUSEN, Germany & AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Triumvira Immunologics Inc. (“Triumvira”), a privately-held biopharmaceutical company developing a novel platform for engineering T-cells to attack cancers, successfully completed a USD $55 million Series A financing round. The financing was co-led by Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment unit of Bayer AG, and Northpond Ventures. Additional investors include Oceanpine Capital and Viva Biotech Holdings, and existing investors include Bloom Burton & Co. and the Centre for Commercialization of Cancer Immunotherapy (C3i).
T-cells are a type of white blood cell that are critical in ridding the body from abnormal and cancerous cells in healthy individuals. In cancer patients, these T-cells frequently fail to either recognize or effectively engage cancer cells. Novel T-cell therapies have the potential to disrupt cancer care and potentially even provide cures. Triumvira is committed to develop novel T-cell therapies that are safer and more efficacious than current cell therapy cancer treatments, including chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and engineered T-cell receptor (TCR) therapies. This financing will enable Triumvira to advance multiple autologous and allogeneic programs into the clinic for solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.
Curing and preventing cancer is one of the main focus areas of Leaps by Bayer, as this disease still represents one of today’s most pressing health concerns, especially since there are limited curative or preventative therapies available.
“We are very excited about the potential of Triumvira’s platform. It represents a unique opportunity in the development of next-generation cell therapies that promise to address previously incurable cancers,” said Juergen Eckhardt, MD, Head of Leaps by Bayer.
“At Northpond we believe that an entirely different construct and mechanism of action is needed for cell therapies to demonstrate activity in difficult-to-treat tumors, particularly solid tumors," said Dr. Michael Rubin, Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Northpond Ventures. "Today’s funding round marks an important milestone in enabling cell therapies to treat a broader array of cancer patients."
"As a co-founder of Triumvira, Bloom Burton is thrilled to see a strong syndicate of investors commit to advancing Triumvira’s novel TAC technology," said Brian Bloom, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Bloom Burton & Co. "The execution of Triumvira’s Series A funding further demonstrates Bloom Burton’s unique position to invest in life sciences in Canada and beyond our border."
Triumvira’s foundational technology is the T-cell Antigen Coupler (TAC). TAC is a hybrid molecule comprising multiple protein domains to combine tumor targeting abilities with the T-cell’s own activation machinery, leveraging the potential for the development of superior therapies for a broader range of patients with solid or liquid malignancies. Triumvira’s preclinical data with autologous and allogeneic programs demonstrate unique biological differences between TAC-engineered T-cells and second-generation CAR-T cells, with TAC-T cells showing absence of tonic signaling, strong tumor penetration, and long-term persistence. These functional properties help TAC T-cells produce strong anti-tumor activity and no evidence of toxicity, particularly in models of solid tumors.
“With so many engineered T-cell therapy companies developing new T-cell technologies, it is all about differentiation,” said Dr. Paul Lammers, President and CEO of Triumvira. “We are excited to have a strong group of investors join our Series A syndicate, who believe in the promise of our proprietary TAC technology, which incorporates an innovative, well-differentiated, and patented design. As we develop our technology that has the potential to be used in treating both hematological and solid tumors, we hope to show that differentiation in clinical trials soon and provide a significant benefit to cancer patients.”
Dr. Juergen Eckhardt and Dr. Jak Knowles will represent Leaps by Bayer by actively participating on Triumvira’s board of directors together with Dr. Shaan Gandhi, Principal at Northpond Ventures. Additionally, Scott Smith, current President at BioAtla and former President and Chief Operating Officer at Celgene, has been named Chairman of the Board. Brian Bloom, Dr. Paul Lammers, Dr. John Holyoake, and independent Director Cynthia Collins, President & CEO at Editas Medicine, will remain on the Triumvira board.
Wedbush PacGrow acted as the exclusive placement agent for the Series A financing. Shanghai Elite Choices LLC served as an advisor to Triumvira.
About Triumvira Immunologics Inc.
Triumvira Immunologics, Inc. (“Triumvira”) is a clinical stage immunotherapy company with the vision of developing novel T-cell therapies that are safer and more efficacious than current cell therapy cancer treatments, including chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and engineered T-cell receptor (TCR) therapies. Our proprietary T-cell Antigen Coupler (TAC) technology recruits the entire natural T-cell receptor and functions independent of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), potentially allowing for the development of better therapies for a broader range of patients with solid or liquid malignancies and with diseases other than cancer. With operations spanning North America, our corporate offices are in Austin, Texas, with our research facilities in Hamilton, Ontario. For more information, visit www.triumvira.com
About Northpond Ventures
Northpond Ventures is a leading global science, medical, and technology-driven venture firm dedicated to building and empowering breakthrough companies in life sciences and technology. Northpond has in excess of $1 billion of committed capital, with over 21 businesses represented in its portfolio. The firm’s investments target the greatest scientists, innovators, entrepreneurs in life sciences, diagnostics, AI and machine learning, therapeutics, and affiliated sectors. Northpond has become among the most-active investors in the life sciences and molecular diagnostics industries. For more information, please visit: npv.vc.
About Bayer and Leaps by Bayer
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to benefit people by supporting efforts to overcome the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development, and the Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2019, the Group employed around 104,000 people and had sales of 43.5 billion euros. Capital expenditures amounted to 2.9 billion euros, R&D expenses to 5.3 billion euros. For more information, go to www.bayer.com.
Leaps by Bayer, a unit of Bayer AG, leads impact investments into solutions to some of today’s biggest challenges in health and agriculture. The investment portfolio includes more than 30 companies. They are all working on potentially breakthrough technologies to overcome some specific challenges such as, e.g. regenerating lost tissue function, reducing the environmental impact of farming, preventing or curing cancer, and others. For more information, go to www.leaps.bayer.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer’s public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.