Japan-California startup Shinobi Therapeutics Inc. has emerged from stealth mode with a $51 million series A round to advance its first off-the-shelf induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS)-T cell therapy against glypigan-3 (GPC3)-positive cancers toward the clinic.
With an initial €8 million (US$8.4 million) in seed funding in the bank, Tessellate Bio has emerged from stealth to tackle cancers that rely on the less well explored synthetic lethality mechanism of alternative lengthening of telomeres.
Following a strategic transaction with Graphite Bio Inc., Kamau Therapeutics is emerging from stealth with sickle cell treatment nulabeglogene autogedtemcel (nula-cel). Kamau received an option to acquire all of Graphite’s genome editing assets, including a platform technology that integrates precision DNA repair using homology directed repair and CRISPR/Cas9, as well as the autologous CRISPR/Cas9 gene corrected CD34+ cell product nula-cel, which offers a potential cure for sickle cell disease derived from the patient's cells.
In November, the biopharma industry raised $5.65 billion in total financings. While down from $11.6 billion tracked by BioWorld in October, overall financings are tracking ahead of last year. Biopharma funding has maintained an average of $6.1 billion per month in 2023, surpassing the $5.07 billion monthly average throughout 2022.