T-Therapeutics has pulled in a $133 million series B round courtesy of some of the biggest names in pharma to take a pair of T-cell receptor (TCR) CD3 bispecific candidates into the clinic.
The British biotech currently has two bispecifics in the pipeline, namely the preclinical TTX-008 aimed at various tumor types, and the discovery-stage TTX-018 targeting inflammation.
T-Therapeutics has had no problem in sourcing Big Pharma backers, with Eli Lilly supporting the series B alongside the venture arms of Johnson & Johnson, Germany's Merck KGaA and Sanofi. The round was co-led by Advent Life Sciences and the British Business Bank, with the likes of Samsara BioCapital, Sofinnova Partners and F-Prime also joining in.
“We are proud to have some of the world's largest drug developers as shareholders,” T-Therapeutics CEO Theodora Harold told Fierce via email. “We believe that our two first-in-class lead programs are highly differentiated and can address significant unmet medical need in both therapeutic areas.”
The company’s discovery platform, called Optimus, supplies fully human T cell receptors aimed at targets deemed undruggable in the past, according to the company's release. Combined with CD3 in a bispecific molecule, the therapies redirect immune cells to either attack cancer cells or mitigate inflammation.
“Because TCRs can recognize fragments of proteins from inside cells, they open up around 20 times more targets than antibody-based therapies,” T-Therapeutics Chief Scientific Officer Allan Bradley told Fierce in an email. “In cancer, TCR-CD3 bispecifics offer an opportunity for the targeted killing of tumour cells with durable responses, whereas in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, we are selectively removing specific populations of pathogenic immune cells that drive disease.”
The company's approach is also designed to maintain high potency while mitigating cytokine release, a key safety component. CEO Harold said the Cambridge, England-based company is in “execution mode” with its oncology program in IND-enabling studies and the immunology program less than a year behind.
T-Therapeutics picked up a prior series A round of $59 million in 2023, which the biotech extended last year with an additional $32 million.
To help usher its pipeline forward, the company has also enlisted Kirsty Crame, M.D., as chief development officer in charge of translational and clinical execution. Harold said Crame's appointment “underscores our shift from discovery into development.”
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