On August 26, 2020 Kinnate Biopharma Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of small molecule kinase inhibitors for difficult-to-treat, genomically-defined cancers, reported that it has raised $98 million in a Series C financing (Press release, Kinnate Biopharma, AUG 26, 2020, View Source [SID1234564036]). 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.
Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:
Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing
Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!
"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."