On July 16, 2024 Scorpion Therapeutics, Inc. ("Scorpion"), a pioneering clinical-stage oncology company dedicated to transforming the lives of cancer patients by redefining the frontier of precision oncology, reported the closing of a $150 million Series C financing (Press release, Scorpion Therapeutics, JUL 16, 2024, View Source [SID1234644903]). The financing was co-led by Frazier Life Sciences and Lightspeed Venture Partners, and included additional new support from Willett Advisors and leading healthcare institutional investors, along with existing investors Omega Funds, Vida Ventures, Atlas Venture, Abingworth, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Boxer Capital, EcoR1 Capital, LLC, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), Invus, Wellington Management, Nextech Invest Ltd. (on behalf of one or more funds managed by it), OrbiMed, Logos Capital, Woodline Partners LP, and Casdin Capital, LLC. In connection with the financing, Shelley Chu, M.D., Ph.D., Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, will transition to an investor board member and Albert Cha, M.D., Ph.D., Managing Partner at Frazier Life Sciences, will join Scorpion’s board as an observer.
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"The robust demand for this capital raise is a testament to Scorpion’s continued clinical execution, the strength of our emerging clinical data, and the quality of our rapidly advancing pipeline," said Adam Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Scorpion. "We are pleased to strengthen the Company’s financial position and expand Scorpion’s existing blue-chip investor syndicate with these additional leaders in life sciences who share our commitment to improving outcomes for people living with cancer by broadening the reach and impact of precision medicines."
"At Frazier Life Sciences, our goal is to invest in and develop transformational therapeutics companies. Scorpion continues to display an impressive track record of developing potentially best-in-class and first-in-class selective small molecule compounds for cancer," said Dr. Albert Cha. "With the combination of Scorpion’s clinical progress, advancing pipeline, validating partnerships and veteran leadership team, we believe the Company is well-positioned to rapidly develop therapeutics that will make a meaningful difference in patients’ lives."
"Lightspeed is pleased to support Scorpion through this important next phase of growth," said Dr. Shelley Chu. "The team has made remarkable progress since inception, and we believe Scorpion’s targeted approach may be able to overcome the selectivity challenges that plague existing treatment options, ultimately providing better outcomes to patients by offering improvements in both efficacy and safety. In particular, Scorpion’s mutant-selective PI3Kα inhibitor, STX-478, has the potential to become a best-in-class treatment for patients with PI3Kα-mutated breast cancer and other solid tumors, and we look forward to partnering with management to further explore STX-478 in mid-stage clinical trials."
Scorpion plans to use the proceeds from this financing to advance its pipeline of differentiated small molecule oncology programs, in particular, to expand clinical development of its allosteric, differentiated, mutant-selective PI3Kα inhibitor, STX-478. Further, the Company will continue to advance its clinical-stage EGFR inhibitor franchise, including STX-721 and STX-241, and its discovery pipeline of next-generation precision oncology therapies.
About STX-478
STX-478 was designed to improve outcomes in patients harboring PI3Kα mutations, one of the most prevalent drivers of cancer, occurring in over 166,000 patients per year with breast, gynecological and other solid tumors in the United States alone. In preclinical models, STX-478 demonstrated robust activity across a range of PI3Kα mutations while sparing wild-type PI3Kα inhibition in normal tissues; previous generations of non-selective PI3Kα inhibitors have limited patient benefit due to these on-target toxicities. Scorpion’s Phase 1/2 clinical trial is a multi-center, global, open-label study designed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of STX-478 in multiple ascending doses for patients with locally advanced or metastatic HR+/HER2- breast cancer and other solid tumors driven by PI3Kα mutations. The program entered the clinic in 2023 and has rapidly advanced, now in multiple expansion cohorts across a range of solid tumors and in breast cancer as monotherapy and in combinations with fulvestrant and CDK4/6 inhibitors. The Company remains on-track to disclose initial safety, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data, and preliminary efficacy data at a future academic conference. To learn more about the first-in-human trial of STX-478, please visit this page.