TP Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on addressing oncology drug resistance, announced that the company raised $45 million in a Series C financing round. The round was co-led by Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV), OrbiMed Advisors, LLC, and S.R. One, Limited, and joined by existing investors Cormorant Asset Management and SV Tech Ventures. In conjunction with the financing, Carl L. Gordon, Ph.D., CFA, General Partner at OrbiMed, Hongbo Lu, Ph.D., Partner at LAV, and Simeon J. George, M.D., Partner at S.R. One, joined the company’s Board of Directors.
Proceeds from the financing will be used to fund the continued development of the company’s lead program, TPX-0005, for treatment of naïve and resistant patients with ALK, ROS1 or NTRK abnormal genes. The proceeds will also be used to fund the advancement of several pre-clinical pipeline projects.
“We believe TPX-0005 has the potential to comprehensively address the drug resistance issues associated with acquired resistance mutations from targeting the ALK, ROS1, and NTRK family, and the bypass and EMT mechanisms. With bypass and EMT as common resistance mechanisms in targeted therapies, TPX-0005 has the potential to address drug resistance observed in other therapeutic targets, such as EGFR, via combination therapies,” said Dr. J. Jean Cui, founder and Chief Scientific Officer. “We are very delighted to work with OrbiMed, LAV, and S.R. One in building TP Therapeutics going forward, and to have Carl, Hongbo, and Simeon join the Board of Directors,” added Dr. Y. Peter Li, Chairman, President and CEO of TP Therapeutics.
“We are pleased to partner with TP Therapeutics and support their important work in creating new drugs and new hope for the numerous patients whose cancers have become resistant to initial protein kinase inhibitor drugs,” commented Dr. Carl Gordon, OrbiMed.
“We are privileged to have an opportunity to syndicate such an exceptional investor group for this round of financing. We look forward to supporting the TP Therapeutics scientists and management team to bring new therapies to cancer patients around the world,” remarked Dr. Hongbo Lu, LAV.
