This round – which brought total fundraising to approximately $238m in equity – was led by Hiroshi Mikitani, CEO of Rakuten Inc., a global innovation company in e-commerce, communications and fintech, and chairman of Rakuten Aspyrian.
Developing treatments for cancer patients is a mission I began to pursue years ago and is the motivation behind my investment in Rakuten Aspyrian,” said Mr. Mikitani, chairman of Rakuten Aspyrian.
The company intends to use the funds to:
– advance its lead compound ASP-1929, a treatment that received Fast Track designation by the FDA, into a global, pivotal Phase 3 trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety to treat recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinomas,
– support manufacturing scale-up for the commercialization of ASP-1929 and corporate growth including the initial buildup of commercial operations to support the launch of ASP-1929 in the United States, Japan and Europe, and
– support the expansion of R&D efforts to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ASP-1929 and other therapies in a range of cancer types, including the initiation of two additional Phase 2 proof of concept studies of ASP-1929 in other cancer types before the end of 2018.
Led by Miguel Garcia-Guzman, Ph.D., president and CEO, Rakuten Aspyrian is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing tumor-targeted precision therapies based on its proprietary platform Photoimmunotherapy. Photoimmunotherapy combines key advantages of antibody mediated targeting of the cancer cells to achieve high tumor specificity, together with laser-activation of a biophysical mechanism that induces rapid cancer cell death with precision.
Treatments with the Photoimmunotherapy platform lead to targeted and rapid tumor cell death by necrosis, with minimal effects on normal tissue.
Rakuten Aspyrian is studying Photoimmunotherapy for use as a monotherapy and in combination with other drugs.
FinSMEs
23/08/2018