ARMO pockets $30M for its immunotherapy ahead of the ASCO spotlight

Armed with an ex-Merck ($MRK) immunotherapy and some promising preclinical data, startup ARMO BioSciences has pulled in $30 million in venture cash to study whether its candidate can help kill cancer cells by galvanizing an immune system response.

The latest round, led by NanoDimension and including previous investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and OrbiMed, will fund an expansion of ARMO's Phase I study of AM0010, a drug initially developed to fight inflammation that has found new life as a cancer immunotherapy.

ARMO's drug works by activating tumor-specific killer T lymphocytes and leading an attack on cancer cells. In preclinical study, the switched-on lymphocytes eradicated tumor masses and reduced metastatic disease while charting lasting anti-tumor effects, the company said.

Now the company is slated to divulge some results from its ongoing Phase I study at this weekend's American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago, detailing the drug's mechanism as it works through a dose-escalating trial in patients with advanced solid tumors.

AM0010 is a synthetic form of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 that began its life as an anti-inflammatory candidate at Schering-Plough. Merck, in the aftermath of a $41 billion acquisition of that company, discarded the drug after it missed statistical significance in psoriasis and Crohn's disease. After raising a $20 million A round, ARMO swooped in and licensed the treatment, bought up a complementary asset from Renovo and segued right into immuno-oncology development.

Much of the excitement around the burgeoning class of immunotherapies headed to ASCO is tied to the cancer-killing potential of combination treatments, and ARMO CEO Peter Van Vlasselaer said his company is stretching out its clinical program to investigate AM0010's prospects as part of a therapeutic cocktail.

"We intend to use the Series B funding to complete several expansion cohorts of our Phase 1 study of AM0010, including drug combination cohorts designed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of AM0010 in combination with standard of care and with other immunotherapy drugs," Van Vlasselaer said in a statement. "We expect results from the dose-escalation part of the study by mid-2014."

Beyond its tumor-fighting prowess, AM0010 is also under development to treat fibrosis, hypercholesterolemia, atherosclerosis and, despite its past, inflammatory diseases, ARMO said.

- read the statement