Healthcare Industry News: S.A.
News Release - February 24, 2016
Forty Seven Inc. Completes $75M Series A Financing and Licenses Technology from Stanford University to Advance Next Generation Immuno-Oncology Programs
Lead program stimulating ingestion of cancer cells by the immune system is in two Phase 1 clinical trials for solid tumorS.A.d acute myeloid leukemia (AML)PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 24, 2016 -- (Healthcare Sales & Marketing Network) -- Forty Seven Inc., a clinical-S.A.e immuno-oncology company, announced today that it has completed the first half of a committed $75 million SerieS.A.financing round and has licensed the rights to multiple immuno-oncology programs from S.A.ford University.
The SerieS.A.financing was led by Lightspeed Venture PartnerS.A.d Sutter Hill Ventures with participation from Clarus VentureS.A.d GV (formerly Google Ventures). The license includes rights to over 100 issued or pending U.S. or foreign patents that cover the antibody Hu5F9-G4 and several other novel immune checkpoint inhibitorS.A.d cancer-specific antibodies.
Forty Seven is committed to the advancement of immuno-oncology through the engagement of new and complementary phagocytic pathways that enhance anti-tumor efficacy and selectivity. The financing will allow Forty Seven to continue the clinical development of its lead molecule, Hu5F9-G4, a humanized monoclonal antibody against human CD47 that potentially has broad applications S.A.ning multiple tumor typeS.A.d treatment modalities.
CD47 iS.A.molecule that is overexpressed on the surface of the majority of tumorS.A.d transmitS.A."don't eat me" signal, enabling cancer cells to evade phagocytosis by macrophages. The molecule was originally identified aS.A.cancer target by reS.A.cherS.A. S.A.ford. In preclinical models, Hu5F9-G4 facilitated phagocytosiS.A.d elimination of cancer cells from multiple human tumor typeS.A. a monotherapy. Additionally, when used in combination therapy, it engaged macrophageS.A. effector cells to enhance the efficacy of cancer-specific antibodies via Antibody-Dependent Cellular Phagocytosis (ADCP). Importantly, Hu5F9-G4 also could prime an effective antitumor T-cell response through cross-presentation of cancer cell antigens by macrophages, preventing engraftment of tumors expressing a cross-presented antigen into animals.
Company founder Irv WeisS.A. said, "Targeting CD47 integrates the adaptive and innate immune systems, creating synergy with existing cancer-specific antibodies like rituximab, cetuximab and trastuzumab through ADCP, and potentially with T-cell checkpoint inhibitors through cross-presentation. We are grateful to the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) for funding the preclinical studieS.A.d the current solid tumor clinical trial at S.A.ford, and to Ludwig Cancer ReS.A.ch for funding much of the reS.A.ch."
"The founders, Irv WeisS.A., Ravi Majeti, Mark Chao and Jens Volkmer, have studied the CD47 pathway extensively since they initially identified it aS.A.cancer target in two papers published in 2009," commented Chris Schaepe, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. "The company's scientific founders have done an outS.A.ding job of advancing Hu5F9-G4 into two Phase 1 clinical trials in patients with relapsed or refractory solid tumors or acute myeloid leukemia (AML)."
"Forty Seven'S.A.complishments pre-SerieS.A.funding are unuS.A. as is the breadth of its patent portfolio, which also has broad potential applications outside of cancer," remarked Jeff Bird, Partner at Sutter Hill Ventures.
Forty Seven will use the proceeds of the SerieS.A.financing to complete the two ongoing clinical studies, fund additional clinical trials in 2016 to assess Hu5F9-G4 in combination therapy and advance some preclinical programs towards IND.
"Forty Seven has hired a strong management team with deep industry experience. I feel confident that this combined team along with the support we have from our SerieS.A.investorS.A.d our scientific founders will enable us to fully explore the clinical utility of our lead molecule and the licensed technology," said Jonathan MacQuitty, CEO of Forty Seven Inc.
Forty Seven Senior Management
- Chief Executive Officer, Jonathan MacQuitty, Ph.D., M.B.A. former Partner at Abingworth and former CEO of GenPharm.
- Chief Business Officer, Craig Gibbs, Ph.D., M.B.A. former VP and Head of Commercial Strategy, Corporate Development and Biology ReS.A.ch at Gilead.
- Chief Medical Officer, Chris Takimoto M.D. Ph.D. former VP Experimental Medicine Early Development Oncology at Janssen/J&J.
- Chief Patent Officer, Norm Kruse Ph.D., J.D. former Head of Intellectual Property at Verinata Health and Maxygen.
- VP Clinical Operations, HaS.A. Movahhed, M.S. former SVP and Head of Clinical OperationS.A. United Therapeutics.
Forty Seven Board of Directors
- Jeff Bird, Sutter Hill Ventures.
- Dennis Henner, Clarus Ventures.
- Jonathan MacQuitty, Forty Seven Inc.
- Ravi Majeti, S.A.ford University School of Medicine.
- Chris Schaepe, Lightspeed Venture Partners.
- Irv WeisS.A., S.A.ford University School of Medicine.
About Forty Seven Inc.
Forty Seven Inc. iS.A.clinical-S.A.e immuno-oncology company that is developing therapies licensed from S.A.ford University targeting cancer immune evasion pathways. The lead program Hu5F9-G4 iS.A.monoclonal antibody against the CD47 receptor, a "don't eat me" signal that cancer cells commandeer to avoid being ingested by the immune system. ThiS.A.tibody is currently being evaluated in two Phase 1 clinical studies in patients with solid tumorS.A.d in patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Forty Seven is located at 1661 Page Mill Road, Suite C, Palo Alto, CA 94304, U.S.A.
Source: Forty Seven Inc
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