Listen to this article 3 min
A cell therapy developer spun out of the University of Pennsylvania three years ago has raised $17 million to advance its lead immunotherapy candidates targeting a variety of cancers.
Verismo Therapeutics' second pre-Series A funding round was led by DongKoo Bio, a South Korean biotech company, and HLB, a South Korean firm that invests in startup technology companies.
Since its inception in 2020, Verismo has now raised a total of $50 million, including $7 million raised in February from the first round of its pre-Series A funding. Earlier backers included BRV Capital, a tech-focused growth equity arm of California-based BlueRun Ventures, and Texas-based Ignite Innovation.
The new funding will be used by Verismo to advance multiple programs it has for immunotherapy candidates including SynKIR-110 for solid tumors including, ovarian cancer and bile duct cancer; and SynKIR-310 for blood cancers.
The company, led by CEO Dr. Bryan Kim, has developed what it calls a novel KIR-CAR platform technology.
Traditionally, therapy using CAR T-cells — an acronym for chimeric antigen receptors — has involved removing a patient's T cells and genetically modifying them in the laboratory. After the re-engineered cells are injected back into a patient their immune system is better able to attack cancer cells.
Kim, along with his Verismo co-founders and Penn professors Dr. Michael C. Milone and Dr. Donald L. Siegel, re-invented the technology to create its KIR-CAR platform to potentially treat solid tumors. KIR is an acronym for killer immunoglobulin-like receptors.
Verismo's KIR-CAR platform, according to the company, is being used to create the first "multi-chain" CAR therapies capable of maintaining the T-cell activity even in harsh solid tumor environments. KIR-CAR is being designed to provide a "natural stimulation" to the cell without triggering T-cell exhaustion. The therapy, the company said, will continue to destroy solid tumors from the inside until they disappear.
