Umoja secures $100M series C to bring more CAR-Ts into the clinic

Umoja Biopharma has secured $100 million in series C funds as the cancer-focused biotech looks to bring more of its cell therapies into the clinic.

Umoja’s only clinical-stage candidate is UB-TT170, a TumorTag-based treatment that tags solid tumor cells that express folate receptor alpha. The asset is being evaluated in a phase 1 trial along with a CAR-T therapy as a treatment for osteosarcoma, the most common type of bone tumor in children.

However, Umoja didn’t name-check UB-TT170 in this morning’s release. Instead, the biotech focused on UB-VV400, an off-the-shelf, multidomain fusion protein surface-engineered lentiviral vector designed to generate CD22-directed CAR T cells within a patient’s body. The series C funds will be used to launch clinical studies of UB-VV400 in multiple oncology and autoimmune clinical studies, according to the Jan. 14 release.

UB-VV111, a preclinical CD19-focused CAR-T for blood cancers that falls under last year’s collaboration with AbbVie, also received a mention. Both UB-VV400 and UB-VV111 were made with Umoja’s VivoVec platform.

Today’s oversubscribed round was led by Double Point Ventures and DCVC Bio, with participants including ARK Invest, Cormorant Asset Management, MPM Capital, Qiming Venture Partners USA, RTW Investments, Alexandria Venture Investments and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, to name a few.

“We are pleased to announce the closing of our series C financing with tremendous support from both new and existing investors who recognize Umoja’s potential to develop the industry’s first in vivo CAR T cell generating therapies—all in the hopes of increasing effectiveness, reducing barriers, and expanding access to CAR T cell therapies,” Umoja CEO Andrew Scharenberg, M.D., said in a statement.

Umoja emerged in 2020 with $53 million and a mission to push past the limits of today’s immunotherapies. The company raised another $210 million the following year to fund the start of its clinical ambitions.