NEW YORK − Kinnate Biopharma said on Wednesday that it has raised $98 million in a Series C financing round led by RA Capital Management.
New investors included Viking Global Investors, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, Fidelity Management & Research, Janus Henderson Investors, Surveyor Capital, Boxer Capital of Tavistock Group, Logos Capital, and an investment fund associated with SVB Leerink. Prior investors Foresite Capital, OrbiMed, Nextech Invest, and Vida Ventures also participated in the round.
In June, San Diego-based Kinnate emerged from stealth mode with two targeted drug candidates expected to enter clinical trials next year after closing a $74.5 million Series B financing round last December.
The company's lead drug candidate is a RAF dimer signaling inhibitor for non-V600 BRAF-mutated non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and melanoma patients. The drug is now undergoing preclinical toxicology screens.
The second drug candidate the company hopes to bring into clinical trials next year is an FGFR inhibitor, which it will initially explore in patients with resistance mutations in FGFR2 fusion-positive intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and FGFR3-altered urothelial carcinoma.
The company is also building out its portfolio through other research programs in collaboration with leaders at precision medicine cancer centers including Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.
"The rapid advancement of genomic technologies has enabled the identification of many more people who may benefit from genomically targeted therapies. However, because of non-response or resistance mutations, many fail to benefit from these potentially life-saving medicines," Peter Kolchinsky, managing partner at RA Capital Management, said in a statement. "We are proud to support the Kinnate team and see tremendous potential for their lead programs to significantly increase the number of people who could benefit from targeted precision oncology therapeutics."