On March 18, 2020 CERo Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company, reported a research collaboration with Lyell Immunopharma, Inc. to develop next generation cell-based immunotherapies for solid tumors (Press release, Cero Therapeutics, MAR 18, 2020, View Source [SID1234573140]). At the same time, CERo announced the completion of a $40 million Series A private financing.
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Under the terms of the agreement, CERo and Lyell will collaborate to pursue proof-of-concept studies for a new class of cell-based therapeutics directed against solid tumors. CERo’s CER-T technology instructs immune cells to engage novel and complementary tumor cell clearance pathways designed to enable deeper and more sustained responses against broad classes of tumors.
"CERo’s technology combines multiple forms of tumor cell clearance and introduces them into single cells to vastly expand their therapeutic potential," said Daniel Corey, MD, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of CERo. "Lyell, with their advanced T-cell capabilities, is an ideal partner for CERo. We believe the two platforms have powerful therapeutic synergies."
"CERo is building an innovative class of therapeutics by leveraging understandings from innate immunology and synthetic biology," said Rick Klausner, MD, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lyell Immunopharma, Inc. "We look forward to a productive partnership designed to rapidly identify effective cell-based therapies."
Lyell Immunopharma Inc. is a cell therapy company dedicated to understanding and developing technologies to overcome the fundamental barriers to curative therapies. Lyell is focused on advancing the science of T-cell differentiation, functionality, and target specificity in order to develop curative treatments for human disease.
CERo Private Financing
The Series A private financing, which included ARCH Venture Partners, Milky Way Investments Group Limited, Lyell Immunopharma, Inc., Sequoia Capital China, Altitude Life Science Ventures, and existing CERo shareholders raised $40 million. Proceeds from the financing are being used to expand start-up operations and advance the company’s proprietary CER-T technology platform into the clinic.
"CERo is exploring a fresh avenue of rich scientific investigation to reimagine tumor cell clearance" said Robert Nelsen, Co-founder and Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners.