On October 7, 2021 AffyImmune Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company developing and deploying its Tune & Track platform for the use of CAR T cells to treat solid tumors, reported the close of a $30 million Series A+ funding by ORI Capital (ORI) (Press release, AffyImmune Therapeutics, OCT 7, 2021, View Source [SID1234590916]). The Company’s "Tune & Track" platform finely tunes the affinity of CAR T cells to reduce toxicity and increase CAR T cell longevity while allowing in vivo monitoring through a proprietary tracking system.
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The funding will be used to advance the Phase 1 study of AffyImmune’s lead asset, AIC1000, for the treatment of anaplastic thyroid cancer and refractory poorly differentiated thyroid cancer. In addition, AffyImmune will be able to conduct IND-enabling efforts for two additional pipeline candidates, and fund select drug discovery activities. AffyImmune also plans to double its headcount in the next nine months, with a focus on expanding its in-house discovery and leadership teams.
"We are delighted to strengthen AffyImmune’s relationship with ORI with this additional financing," said AffyImmune President & COO Eric von Hofe, Ph.D. "ORI’s dedication to transformative science and deep industry knowledge have been invaluable to our company strategy and growth, and their latest investment highlights the potential of our cutting-edge Tune & Track platform to revolutionize the treatment of solid tumors across a variety of cancers."
"We’re excited to further our investment in AffyImmune, as existing CAR T therapies have not been able to treat solid tumors or have only been effective in a small number of solid cancer patients," said Simone Song, Founder and Senior Partner at ORI Capital and Chairperson of AffyImmune’s Board of Directors. "AffyImmune’s pioneering Tune & Track technology platform will address the critical challenges in CAR T drug development for solid tumors including toxicity, antigen loss, T cell exhaustion, tumor microenvironment, and T cell trafficking. The Tune & Track platform will be life-changing for cancer patients faced with a diagnosis of advanced solid tumors."
As part of the financing, Elaine Yang, Director at ORI Capital, will join the Board of Directors of AffyImmune. "I am excited for this new role and the opportunity to provide counsel and support during AffyImmune’s next phase of growth," said Ms. Yang. "AffyImmune is advancing a leading pipeline of affinity-tuned CAR T therapies to treat solid tumors based on its Tune and Track technology platform, and I look forward to working with their management team and Board," said Ms. Yang.