SAN DIEGO, Calif., November 10, 2022 — Coastar Therapeutics, a biotechnology company and emerging leader in biologic drug delivery technology, today announced it has successfully completed the first close of its Series Pre-A financing. The multi-million dollar investment was led by Panacea Venture and joined by Proxima Ventures.
Inspired by nature, Coastar is developing the ENHEnSTM (Erythro- Nanosome Host-adapted Encapsulation System) technology, an innovative cell membrane coating platform that delivers a variety of biological payloads, such as oncolytic virus, AAV, DNA/RNA, and protein. The ENHEnSTM technology takes advantage of the self-recognition ability of cell membranes, shields biological payloads from immune clearance and enables their systemic delivery to targets. The technology can lead to higher efficacy, improved safety, lower cost, and a wider range of applications to treat cancers and other diseases.
“This is a truly exciting moment for Coastar! We are pleased that Panacea Venture and Proxima Ventures teamed up to invest in us,” said Eddie Y. Chung, Founder and CEO of Coastar Therapeutics. “It is an affirmation of our innovation and a recognition of the tremendous traction achieved by the Coastar team. The new funding will help accelerate the development of our technology, scale up our manufacturing processes, and move our pipelines towards clinical trials. We look forward to welcoming more visionary investors to join us on our journey to develop cures for cancers and genetic diseases.”
“We are thrilled to have the new funding to support our R&D,” said Dr. Han L. Lim, Co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Coastar Therapeutics. “Our team has been making ground-breaking progress, both in the development of our technology and in the discovery of the underlying science that makes it possible. With the infusion of new capital, we will jump start our research programs and advance our pipelines toward IND-enabling studies.”
“Panacea Venture invests in promising technology platforms that can potentially benefit the most patients, and Coastar has such potential,” said James Huang, Founding Managing Partner of Panacea Venture. “The industry has been looking for a viable solution to address the delivery problems facing cancer virotherapy and gene therapy. We believe that Coastar’s approach, with its cell-membrane based delivery platform, has the best chance to stand apart from the competition.”
“Coastar exemplifies a startup that keeps creating breakthroughs in science and technology, and Proxima Ventures is proud to witness their success and to share their spirit of innovation,” said Haolin Sung, Partner of Proxima Ventures. “We will continue to support Coastar in their relentless quest to bring the best biologic delivery technology to market.”
With its ENHEnSTM platform, Coastar is partnering with biotechnology companies to co-develop oncolytic viruses and gene therapy pipelines. The partnership business model is well proven, having been successfully employed by many leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. It allows Coastar to maximize the impact of its technology on the market while lowering the overall risk.
Having secured its latest funding, Coastar is well positioned to advance its current and upcoming pipelines. It plans to scale up its cell membrane production capacity and further develop its biologic payload coating processes. In addition, the company is opening an expanded R&D laboratory at its new headquarters in San Diego, doubling the current footprint. Coastar is also demonstrating global ambitions as it plans to operate R&D programs with partners in the Asia-Pacific region, including one currently underway in Japan.
Industry research reports projected that in the next five years, global markets for cancer immunotherapy and gene therapy could reach $118 billion and $36 billion, respectively. “By enabling systemic delivery of biologic medicines, Coastar aspires to become the ‘Netflix for biologics’, delivering hope to patients around the globe,” said Mr. Chung.
About Coastar Therapeutics
Coastar Therapeutics Inc., is a biotechnology company developing biological drug delivery technologies. The company’s proprietary ENHEnSTM platform can coat cell membranes on biological payloads to help them evade clearance by the immune system and be successfully delivered to tumors or other disease sites. Coastar is partnering with biotechnology companies to co-develop therapeutic products for cancer and gene therapies.
For more information, please visit: https://coastartherapeutics.com/
Media contact:
Chongyang Luo, cluo@coastartherapeutics.com
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