A new biotech company aims to leverage the body’s immune system to help cure cancer.
Normunity Inc., a biotech creating anti-cancer immunotherapies, launched Tuesday with $65 million in Series A financing.
The company, based in Boston, has a research facility with office and lab space at Yale’s West Campus at 520 West Campus Drive in West Haven.
Normunity’s pipeline is based on Yale research and the work of Dr. Lieping Chen, an immunologist at the Yale School of Medicine who is focused on basic T cell biology and cancer immunology. The company will have an ongoing collaboration with Yale School of Medicine.
The Series A was led by Canaan Ventures and included participation by Sanofi Ventures, Taiho Ventures and Osage University Partners.
The company will use the money to advance its pipeline into the clinic. Normunity’s new class of agents, called immune normalizers, target previously undiscovered mechanisms of immune disruption in cancer, according to an announcement.
“The normal immune system is a powerful anti-cancer force, and effective immune-stimulating strategies can result in long-lasting cancer remissions, even cures,” said Chen, the company’s scientific founder.
According to Chen, most immunotherapies currently don’t capitalize on the full anti-cancer potential of the normal immune system, and most cancer patients do not respond to available treatment options.
“This leaves an untapped immune biology that we have begun to uncover,” Chen said. “We aim to usher in a new era of drug discovery for precision immuno-oncology with medicines that normalize immune function.”
Tim Shannon, general partner at Canaan Ventures and chair of Normunity’s Board of Directors, said there is remarkable potential to translate Chen’s lab’s discoveries into breakthrough cancer immunotherapies.
“We have built the right team and the right seamless collaboration between Normunity and the Lieping Chen lab to rapidly cultivate scientific discovery, jointly share expertise, and advance a novel class of drugs that can potentially set a new standard in the immuno-oncology landscape,” Shannon said in an announcement.
Dr. Rachel Humphrey is Normunity’s chief executive officer. Her background includes 25 years of experience in the industry, including leading the development of the cancer immunotherapies Yervoy (ipilimumab) at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Imfinzi (durvalumab) at AstraZeneca.
Contact Michelle Tuccitto Sullo at msullo@newhavenbiz.com.
