PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa.,
Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/
-- Geneos Therapeutics announced today that it has closed its
Series A round raising $10.5 Million
in financing. This funding will launch its operations as a
standalone entity to develop the next generation of
neoantigen-targeting cancer immunotherapies. Geneos,
created as a spinout of Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INO)
will leverage a proven immunotherapy platform ("Geneos Platform")
under an exclusive license from Inovio in the field of personalized
treatments for cancer. The Series A Financing, which includes
a committed initial investment and a milestone driven option, is
led by Santé Ventures and joined by Inovio.
Cancer neoantigens – the mutations and genomic changes that
accumulate as tumors develop – have been recognized as important
targets in the development of immune mediated treatments for
cancer. These are recognized by the immune system as being
foreign and generate immune responses directed at the cancer.
The Geneos Platform allows the company to develop exquisitely
personalized therapies tailored to each patient's own tumor
mutations. The Geneos Platform is poised to deliver the
following key advantages: ability to drive potent and broad T cell
immune responses, capability to target an unprecedented number of
neoantigens in a single formulation, and a rapid manufacturing
turnaround time. Geneos, along with its collaborators at The
Wistar Institute, recently published preclinical, proof-of-concept
animal model data in the prestigious journal, Cancer Immunology
Research, demonstrating the advantages of the Geneos Platform.
Dr. Niranjan Y. Sardesai, Chief
Operating Officer of Inovio Pharmaceuticals, co-founded Geneos and
has served as the company's Chief Executive Officer. "Geneos
holds the potential to become the leader in the development of
personalized cancer immunotherapies to provide patients the chance
for a cure" said Dr. Sardesai. "My confidence in this
start-up, based on industry leading technology, rests on the fact
that Geneos can create neoantigen-targeting immunotherapies against
any cancer. Our immunotherapies can activate – in vivo –
strong T cell responses (both CD4+ and CD8+). In addition, Geneos
cancer fighting treatments can be designed in days instead of
months or years. This funding will allow us to demonstrate
clinical proof-of-concept for treating cancer at an individual
patient level. I invite you to learn more about Geneos by visiting
www.geneostx.com." Concurrently with the Series A financing,
Dr. Sardesai resigned as Inovio COO and will dedicate all his
efforts as Geneos' CEO.
The Series A financing will enable the company to establish its
operations and complete IND enabling activities towards the
initiation of first-in-human clinical trials. As part of the
new financing, Geneos will no longer be a wholly-owned subsidiary
of Inovio Pharmaceuticals.
Geneos' leaders begin operations with a track record of success
in building immunotherapy-based companies. Backed by an extensive
portfolio of globally issued or filed patents and regulatory
experience in Phase I-III clinical development, Geneos takes an
exclusive license of Inovio's DNA-based immunotherapy platform for
personalized cancer immunotherapy; while Inovio will continue to
develop and commercialize population based (non-personalized)
cancer immunotherapies and infectious disease vaccines based on its
proprietary SynCon® design. To date, the platform
technology has demonstrated in multiple clinical trials, animal
models, and peer-reviewed publications the ability to elicit a
potent and tumor-specific immune response to fight cancer.
Dr. J. Joseph Kim, CEO, Inovio
Pharmaceuticals, said, "Establishing Geneos with a patient-specific
direction allows Inovio to focus on executing our strategies to
develop and commercialize DNA-based vaccines and immunotherapies to
attack the major cancer types and challenging infectious diseases
affecting global populations. Geneos will build on Inovio's
technology offering patient-specific, tumor-targeted
immunotherapies to the world, one patient at a
time."
Dr. Sam Broder (former Director
of the National Cancer Institute), joins Geneos' founding Board of
Directors alongside Dr. Sardesai, Dr. Kim, Dr. Casey Cunningham (CSO, Santé Ventures) and Dr.
James Eadie (Partner, Santé
Ventures). Leading the Series A investment, Dr. Eadie said,
"We are pleased to be in at the start of Geneos as a standalone
company. Neoantigens are increasingly recognized as an important
area for therapeutic development and the Geneos platform addresses
many of the current limitations to this approach. Niranjan and his
team bring a wealth of experience in this area and we look forward
to working with them as they build upon Inovio's great work."
In addition to Dr. Broder, Geneos is advised by a world-leading
group of inter-disciplinary experts spanning oncology basic
research, clinical development, and commercialization who believe
in the potential of the Geneos Platform to impact personalized
cancer treatment. Joining the company on its Advisory Board
are:
- Dr. David B. Weiner, W. W. Smith
Endowed Chair in Cancer Research, The Wistar Institute. Dr.
Weiner will serve as the Chair of the company's Advisory
Board.
- Dr. Chi Van Dang, Scientific
Director, Ludwig Institute for
Cancer Research and Professor, The Wistar Institute; and
- Ms. Shawn Tomasello, former
Chief Commercial Officer of Kite Pharmaceuticals and Pharmacyclics;
and former President of the Americas, Hematology and Oncology, for
Celgene
For more information on the company, visit www.geneostx.com.
About Geneos Therapeutics
At Geneos Therapeutics, we believe that personalized therapies
are the future of cancer treatment. Our passion is to develop
personalized therapies to unleash the most powerful force against
cancer – your body's own immune system. Our approach is to
target unique neoantigens (abnormal mutations produced by cancer
cells) from individual patient tumors to develop novel treatments
for cancer. Geneos Therapeutics technology is designed to
identify, design, manufacture, and deliver tumor specific
neoantigen-targeted personalized immunotherapies. We have an
experienced management team with a track record of success in
building immunotherapy-based companies. Geneos holds an
exclusive license of Inovio's DNA-based immunotherapy platform,
which has demonstrated in multiple clinical trials, animal models,
and peer-reviewed publications the ability to elicit a potent and
tumor-specific immune response to fight cancer.
About Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Inovio is a late-stage biotechnology company focused on the
discovery, development, and commercialization of DNA-based
immunotherapies and vaccines that transform the treatment and
prevention of cancer and infectious disease. Inovio's proprietary
technology platform applies antigen sequencing and DNA delivery to
activate potent immune responses to targeted diseases. The
technology functions exclusively in vivo, and has been
demonstrated to consistently activate robust and fully functional T
cell and antibody responses against targeted cancers and pathogens.
Inovio's most advanced clinical program, VGX-3100, is in
Phase 3 for the treatment of HPV-related cervical pre-cancer.
Also in development are Phase 2 immuno-oncology programs
targeting HPV-related cancers, bladder cancer, and glioblastoma, as
well as platform development programs in hepatitis B, Zika, Ebola,
MERS, and HIV. Partners and collaborators include
AstraZeneca, Regeneron, Roche/Genentech, ApolloBio Corporation, The
Wistar Institute, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the
University of Pennsylvania, Parker
Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, CEPI, DARPA, GeneOne Life
Science, Plumbline Life Sciences, NIH, HIV Vaccines Trial Network,
National Cancer Institute, U.S. Military HIV Research Program,
Drexel University, and Laval University. For more information, visit
www.inovio.com.
About Santé Ventures
Santé Ventures is a life sciences venture capital firm that
invests in early-stage companies developing innovative new medical
technologies, therapeutics or healthcare delivery models. The
firm was founded in 2006 and has over $500
million in capital under management in three funds.
For more information, visit www.santeventures.com.
* * *
This press release contains certain forward-looking
statements relating to our business, including our plans to develop
electroporation-based drug and gene delivery technologies and DNA
immunotherapies, our expectations regarding our research and
development programs, including the planned initiation and conduct
of clinical trials and the availability and timing of data from
those trials, and the sufficiency of our capital resources. Actual
events or results may differ from the expectations set forth
herein. There can be no assurance that any product candidate in
Geneos' pipeline will be successfully developed, manufactured or
commercialized, that final results of clinical trials will be
supportive of regulatory approvals required to market licensed
products, or that any of the forward-looking information provided
herein will be proven accurate. Forward-looking statements speak
only as of the date of this release, and Geneos undertakes no
obligation to update or revise these statements, except as may be
required by law.
View original
content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/geneos-therapeutics-secures-10-5-million-in-series-a-financing-to-develop-the-next-generation-of-neoantigen-targeting-cancer-immunotherapies-300799420.html
SOURCE Geneos Therapeutics, Inc.