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The funds enable ImmunoScape to bring its unique immune-profiling capability to major biopharma companies globally, accelerating development of vital immunotherapies and other medicines
SINGAPORE and SAN DIEGO, Aug. 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ImmunoScape (www.ImmunoScape.com), a biotech firm enabling unprecedented insights into the human immune system, today announced that it has raised USD $11 million (SGD $14.8 million) in a global equity financing round. US-based venture firm Anzu Partners led the round, joined by University of Tokyo Edge Capital (UTEC) in Japan, and NPR Holdings in Indonesia.
ImmunoScape's immune profiling platform, which provides deep insights into the T-cells of the human immune system, is already intensely engaged in COVID-19 related programs on three continents.
"There is an urgent need to understand how the T-cell immune response contributes to COVID-19 immunity and can be leveraged for vaccine design," said ImmunoScape co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Dr. Alessandra Nardin. "In global collaborations with Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Parma (Italy), and Duke-NUS, we are evaluating COVID-19 patients and recovered individuals. We are building a large data set on human T-cell response to COVID-19, in an effort to develop new therapies and better vaccines with our partners."
ImmunoScape also has established collaborations with several vaccine development companies, including the San Diego-based Arcturus which is running clinical trials in Singapore.
"As a Singapore-based firm supported by the Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), our team has deep experience assessing T-cell immune response to dengue, hepatitis B, and other viruses. It was clear that we must provide deep support to COVID-19 vaccine development in this global crisis", said ImmunoScape co-founder and CEO Choon Peng Ng, formerly a senior executive at A*STAR.
The company also aspires to continue its core mission of enabling advanced immunotherapies for cancer, an area where its scientific track record is very strong. "In 2019 we co-authored a paper together with collaborators at Genentech illustrating the role of our technology in evaluating checkpoint blockade immunotherapies" said Dr. Nardin. "The interest in those insights attracted global attention and encouraged us to seek financing to expand further into the US market."
"To deliver on the promise of individualized medicine for cancer, the biopharma industry desperately needs more insight into every patient's unique immune system. ImmunoScape can deliver this, and we are delighted to support them," said David Michael, Managing Partner of Anzu Partners.
ImmunoScape's technology can guide the development of immunotherapies, as the company has shown in major scientific journals," said Dr. Naonori Kurokawa, Partner of UTEC. "Now they are bringing these insights and capabilities to major biopharma clients globally."
ImmunoScape's technology was based on work begun at Stanford University, and continued at A*STAR of Singapore, where the company was established in 2017. ImmunoScape has received support from A*STAR and its commercialization arm A*ccelerate, as well as Enterprise Singapore. Technical founder Dr. Evan Newell, PhD, previously an A*STAR Science Fellow, is now based at Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
For more information, please visit: https://ImmunoScape.com
About ImmunoScape
ImmunoScape specializes in deep profiling of immune cells and identification of antigen specific T cells, based on the high dimensional mass spectrometry methods developed by Dr. Evan Newell, the company's co-founder. ImmunoScape enables pharmaceutical and biotechnologies companies to gain valuable insights from clinical trial patient data and to develop more effective immunotherapies. For more information, please visit https://ImmunoScape.com.
About ANZU Partners
Anzu Partners is an investment firm that funds breakthrough industrial and life sciences technologies. Anzu teams with entrepreneurs to develop and commercialize technological innovations by providing capital and deep expertise in business development, market positioning, global connectivity, and operations. For more information, please visit https://anzupartners.com. On Twitter: @anzupartners.
About UTEC
UTEC is a seed/early stage technology focused venture capital firm associated with academic institutes such as The University of Tokyo. UTEC supports the creation and growth of start-ups that vigorously foster business globally through the use of superior science and technology, collaborating with universities, research institutes and investment partners in and out of Japan. For more information, please visit https://www.ut-ec.co.jp/english/.
CONTACT
Rob Haralson for ImmunoScape
+12026746679, rhh@anzupartners.com
info@immunoscape.com
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