Forty Seven Launches with Half of $75 Million Series A Backed by Google and 100+ Patents
February 24, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Forty Seven Inc announced today that it had completed the first half of a $75 million Series A financing round. In addition, the company indicated it had licensed the rights to over 100 immuno-oncology programs from Stanford University.
The financing round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sutter Hill Ventures. Clarus Ventures and GV (formerly Google Ventures) participated. The licenses are issued or pending U.S. or foreign patents in the area of immuno-oncology, including the antibody Hu5F9-G4, various checkpoint inhibitors and cancer-specific antibodies.
The company intends to use the money initially to continue developing its lead molecule, Hu5F9-G4. This molecule is a humanized monoclonal antibody against human CD47. CD47 is overexpressed on the surface of most tumors and transmits what the company refers to as a “don’t eat me” signal. This allows cancer cells to avoid being engulfed and destroyed by macrophages, significant components of the human immune system.
Hu5F9-G4, in effect, shuts down the “don’t eat me” mechanism, allowing the body’s immune system to attack the cancer cells. Because CD47 is found on so many different cancer types, it would likely have very broad usage in cancer therapy.
“Targeting CD47 integrates the adaptive and innate immune systems, creating synergy with existing cancer-specific antibodies like rituximab, cetuximab and trastuzumab through ADCP, and potentially with T-cell checkpoint inhibitors through cross-presentation,” said Irv Weissman, company co-founder, in a statement. “We are grateful to the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) for funding the preclinical studies and the current solid tumor clinical trial at Stanford, and to Ludwig Cancer Research for funding much of the research.”
Hu579-G4 is currently in two Phase I clinical studies in patients with solid tumors, and in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Jonathan MacQuitty, former partner at Abingworth and former chief executive officer of GenPharm, will be the company’s chief executive officer. Craig Gibbs will be the chief business officer. Gibbs is the former vice president and head of commercial strategy, corporate development and biology research at Gilead .
Chris Takimoto, former vice president of experimental medicine early development oncology at Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson company, will be the chief medical officer. Norm Kruse will be chief patent officer. He is the former head of intellectual property at Verinata Health and Maxygen . And Hassan, formerly senior vice president and head of clinical operations at United Therapeutics will be the vice president of clinical operations.
“Forty Seven has hired a strong management team with deep industry experience,” said Jonathan MacQuitty, in a statement. “I feel confident that this combined team along with the support we have from our Series A investors and our scientific founders will enable us to fully explore the clinical utility of our lead molecule and the licensed technology.”
Also working the same space is Toronto, Canada-based Trillium Therapeutics. On Feb. 3 the company announced it had dosed its first patient in a Phase I trial of TTI-621 (SIRPaFc), a novel checkpoint inhibitor that blocks CD47. Trillium’s proposed five trial sites include the Mayo Clinic, Columbia University Medical Center, City of Hope National Medical Center, The Colorado Blood Cancer Institute, and Tennessee Oncology.