SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Faeth Therapeutics, a healthcare company developing machine learning-driven precision nutrition solutions and treatment regimens to enhance cancer therapy, today announced the closing of a $20M seed financing round co-led by Khosla Ventures and Future Ventures, with participation from S2G Ventures, Digitalis, KdT Ventures, Agfunder, Cantos and Unshackled.
Metabolism plays an essential role in the growth of tumors, and cancer cells frequently show altered metabolism compared to healthy tissues. Tumors have high demands for nutrients, such as glucose and amino acids, which are used to make energy and build molecules for growth. Furthermore, cancer cell metabolism plays an active role in helping tumors defend themselves against chemotherapy and targeted therapies – essentially making anticancer drugs less effective.
Faeth is exploiting the differences in metabolism and nutrient uptake between healthy and cancerous tissues by democratizing precision nutrition as a new modality in the fight against cancer. The modulation of dietary nutrients will join surgery, radiotherapy, small molecules, and biologics as a pillar of the treatment paradigm in cancer care. The company’s machine learning-driven discovery platform, MetabOS™ is uncovering the precise nutrient vulnerabilities for a tumor based on genotype, organ of origin, and therapy. Faeth has generated groundbreaking preclinical data that precisely designed diets can not only have a therapeutic impact but could also potentially improve patient responses to other cancer therapies.
The founding scientific team are the world’s leading cancer specialists, bioinformatics and genomics pioneers, including Drs. Lew Cantley, Director Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, Sid Mukherjee, Oncologist, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Karen Vousden, Chief Scientist of Cancer Research UK & Group Leader, The Francis Crick Institute.
The financing will be used to advance Faeth’s precision nutrition platform as well as its lead candidate, an isoform-selective PI3Kα inhibitor, Serabelisb, into Phase Ib/II clinical trials this year. Faeth will also be expanding its team to further develop its MetabOS™ preclinical discovery platform and patient-facing software.
“We’re excited to bring together the world’s leaders in cancer, to solve the existing challenge of how nutrition can be harnessed to improve outcomes across oncology using our machine learning-driven precision nutrition platform, MetabOS™. This seed financing round enables us to begin in first-in-human studies for our lead candidate Serabelisb and advance our precision therapeutics pipeline augmented by precision nutrition,” said Anand Parikh, CEO & Co-Founder, Faeth Therapeutics. “We’re using precision therapies, software and nutrition to help treat cancer, for the millions of patients who desperately need better outcomes.”
"At Khosla Ventures, we invest in ventures that are bold, early and impactful for the world," said Alex Morgan, Partner at Khosla Ventures. "Faeth's approach and team has shown that modulating nutrition could be key to unlocking treatments for cancer patients and we look forward to working with them."
“Faeth has an all-star team of world class scientists that have figured out how we can systematically starve all cancers and improve patient outcomes. The company has generated groundbreaking data, that shows that precisely designed diets can improve response rates to specific cancer therapies,” said Steve Jurvetson, Managing Director at Future Ventures.
About Faeth Therapeutics
Faeth Therapeutics, headquartered in San Francisco, was founded to translate breakthrough discoveries, made by world-leading cancer research laboratories into clinical practice. The company is converging precision therapeutics, software and nutrition to treat cancer. Precise nutritional interventions are delivered to the patient at home, with AI-guided software to provide a seamless experience and access to dieticians to deliver the greatest treatment outcomes possible. The scientific founders include industry leaders Drs. Lew Cantley, Sid Mukherjee, Karen Vousden and other pioneers across bioinformatics, genomics and nutrition. For additional information, visit www.faeththerapeutics.com.
