March Biosciences, a Houston, TX-based clinical stage biotechnology company, raised $28.4M in Series A funding.
The round was led by Mission BioCapital and 4BIO Capital, with participation from KdT Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, Volnay Therapeutics, Modi Ventures, and Mansueto Investments. Existing investors TMC Venture Fund, Cancer Focus Fund, and Small Ventures. Concurrent with the partnership announcement, Volnay Co-Founder and CEO Stefan Wildt, who held key R&D leadership positions in cell and gene therapy units at Novartis and Takeda, is joining March Bio’s Board of Directors. Cassidy Blundell of Mission BioCapital and Owen Smith of 4BIO Capital are joining March Bio’s Board of Directors.
The company intends to use the funds to support Phase 2 development of its lead CD5 CAR-T therapy, MB-105, for T-cell lymphoma and pipeline candidates. The financing will also provide resources for the ongoing development of undisclosed pipeline products, as well as for general corporate proceeds.
Led by CEO Sarah Hein, March Biosciences, launched from the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy (Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children’s Hospital), is dedicated to addressing challenging cancers unresponsive to current immunotherapies. Its lead asset, MB-105, is a CD5-targeted CAR-T cell therapy currently in Phase 1 trials in patients with refractory T-cell lymphoma and leukemia, with promising signals of efficacy and safety to date. A Phase 2 trial is expected to begin next early year.
The company has raised over $50M to date, inclusive of this current financing and support from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) and the NIH SBIR program.
FinSMEs
23/10/2024