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Cambridge, MA / Leverkusen, Germany, January 10, 2023 – NextPoint Therapeutics, a biotechnology firm creating a brand new world of precision immuno-oncology, introduced at present that it raised $80 million in Sequence B financing co-led by Leaps by Bayer, the influence funding arm of Bayer AG, and Sanofi Ventures, the strategic enterprise capital arm for Sanofi. The financing shall be used to advance NextPoint’s two lead precision immuno-oncology packages into the clinic, each concentrating on the newly found HHLA2 pathway to activate anti-tumor immune responses.
Further new buyers within the spherical embody Invus, Catalio Capital Administration, Sixty Diploma Capital and PagodaTree Companions. Current buyers that took half within the financing embody MPM Capital Administration, Binney Road Capital/Dana-Farber Most cancers Institute and NextPoint founder Gordon Freeman, PhD. As a part of the financing, Rakhshita Dhar, Senior Director of Enterprise Investments Well being at Leaps by Bayer, and Paulina Hill, Accomplice at Sanofi Ventures, will be part of the NextPoint Board of Administrators.
NextPoint’s packages goal to ship monotherapies for most cancers sufferers with out viable therapy choices. Whereas immune checkpoint inhibitors concentrating on PD-1/L1 have revolutionized most cancers remedies, many sufferers don’t profit from these medicines and require novel therapeutic methods. Just like PD-L1, the tumor antigen HHLA2 is a member of the B7 receptor household, is extremely expressed on sure hard-to-treat cancers, and drives avoidance of detection from the immune system. Importantly, HHLA2 is impartial of PD-L1 and is usually most strongly expressed in PD-L1-negative cancers. NextPoint’s strategy re-activates immune cells in tumors which can be suppressed by HHLA2-driven immune evasion.
NextPoint originated from the mixed experience of its educational founders, Gordon Freeman, PhD, of the Dana-Farber Most cancers Institute, and XingXing Zang, PhD, of Albert Einstein Faculty of Drugs. Drs. Freeman’s and Zang’s impartial discovery and characterization of the HHLA2 pathway fashioned the idea of the NextPoint strategy. The corporate and its founders have proven in preclinical fashions and with evaluation of current scientific datasets that the HHLA2 pathway is a vital tumor-suppressive mechanism in lots of sufferers1,2.
“NextPoint is constructing a deep understanding of the HHLA2 tumor-specific immune-escape mechanism, with the last word aim of creating standalone remedies in cancers with excessive HHLA2 expression,” mentioned Detlev Biniszkiewicz, PhD, Chief Government Officer of NextPoint Therapeutics. “The help of our new buyers together with the continued dedication of our current buyers and founders emphasizes our momentum and progress in defining precision immuno-oncology for brand new affected person segments.”
Juergen Eckhardt, MD, Head of Leaps by Bayer, commented, “Leaps by Bayer was based to assist resolve ten of the world’s greatest challenges in well being and agriculture, together with stopping and curing most cancers. We’re thrilled to help NextPoint, an thrilling addition to our oncology portfolio, as it really works to redefine the therapy panorama of immuno-oncology.”
About NextPoint Therapeutics
NextPoint is advancing the sector of immuno-oncology by way of its main scientific work on the novel HHLA2 pathway. Our progressive strategy integrates foundational science with an outlined scientific biomarker to ship a brand new class of monotherapies for sufferers who is not going to profit from PD-1/L1 inhibitors. Our crew of confirmed drug builders is working intently with our famend scientific founders to launch a brand new world of precision immuno-oncology. To study extra, go to nextpointtx.com.
About Bayer
Bayer is a worldwide enterprise with core competencies within the life science fields of well being care and vitamin. Its services and products are designed to assist folks and the planet thrive by supporting efforts to grasp the main challenges introduced by a rising and growing old international inhabitants. Bayer is dedicated to driving sustainable growth and producing a optimistic influence with its companies. On the similar time, the Group goals to extend its incomes energy and create worth by way of innovation and development. The Bayer model stands for belief, reliability and high quality all through the world. In fiscal 2021, the Group employed round 100,000 folks and had gross sales of 44.1 billion euros. R&D bills earlier than particular objects amounted to five.3 billion euros. For extra info, go to www.bayer.com.
About Leaps by Bayer
Leaps by Bayer, a unit of Bayer AG, leads influence investments into options to a few of at present’s greatest challenges in well being and agriculture. The funding portfolio consists of greater than 50 corporations. They’re all engaged on probably breakthrough applied sciences to beat some particular challenges equivalent to, e.g., creating a sustainable protein provide, decreasing the environmental influence of agriculture, stopping or curing most cancers, and others. For extra info, go to leaps.bayer.com.
About Sanofi Ventures
Sanofi Ventures is the company enterprise capital arm of Sanofi. Sanofi Ventures invests in early-stage biotech and digital well being corporations with progressive concepts and transformative new merchandise and applied sciences of strategic curiosity to Sanofi. Amongst these areas are oncology, immunology, uncommon illnesses, vaccines, potential cures in different core areas of Sanofi’s enterprise footprint, and digital well being options. Discover out extra: www.sanofiventures.com
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1 Wei Y, Ren X, Galbo PM Jr, et al. KIR3DL3-HHLA2 is a human immunosuppressive pathway and a therapeutic goal. Sci Immunol. 2021 Jul 9;6(61):9792.
2 Bhatt RS, Berjis A, Konge JC, et al. KIR3DL3 Is an Inhibitory Receptor for HHLA2 that Mediates an Different Immunoinhibitory Pathway to PD1. Most cancers Immunol Res. 2021 Feb;9(2):156-169.
Ahead-Wanting Statements
This launch could include forward-looking statements based mostly on present assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer administration. Varied identified and unknown dangers, uncertainties and different components might result in materials variations between the precise future outcomes, monetary scenario, growth or efficiency of the corporate and the estimates given right here. These components embody these mentioned in Bayer’s public studies which can be found on the Bayer web site at www.bayer.com. The corporate assumes no legal responsibility in any respect to replace these forward-looking statements or to evolve them to future occasions or developments.
Contact for media inquiries:
MacDougall Advisors
Lauren Arnold, telephone +1(617)694-5387
E mail: larnold@macdougall.bio
Leaps by Bayer
Kira Peikoff, telephone +1(973)791-3348
E mail: kira.peikoff@bayer.com
