Financing co-led by Samsara Biocapital and Enavate Sciences, with participation from Pfizer Ventures and Regeneron Ventures in addition to other new and existing investors

Normunity’s lead program is a novel T cell engager against a tumor-specific target that is relevant in multiple solid tumors and has the potential to be leveraged for a range of biologic modalities

 

Boston, Mass., and New Haven, Conn. – January 13, 2024Normunity, a biotechnology company creating novel anti-cancer therapies, today announced that it has closed a Series B financing for $75 million. The financing was co-led by Samsara BioCapital and Enavate Sciences, alongside other new investors Regeneron Ventures, Pfizer Ventures and YK Bioventures, as well as existing investors Canaan Partners, Sanofi Ventures, Taiho Ventures, Osage University Partners, HSG (HongShan Capital Group), and Connecticut Innovations. The Board of Directors will be expanded to include David Parry, PhD (Samsara), Sara Nayeem, MD (Enavate) and Marie-Clare Peakman, MD (Pfizer Ventures).

“We are delighted to secure this financing from such an experienced and well-respected syndicate of life sciences investors. Their support will enable Normunity to continue our strong momentum and advance our lead drug program NRM-823 into the clinic this year and explore other modalities with this exciting tumor specific target,” said Rachel Humphrey, MD, founding Chief Executive Officer of Normunity. “With our proprietary target discovery process, we will continue to build our pipeline around novel targets, with new biological insights that could translate into life-changing medicines for cancer patients.”

Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance Normunity’s lead program, NRM‑823, a first-in-class T cell engager that binds a novel, highly specific tumor target expressed on multiple types of solid tumors. The company plans to initiate the Phase 1 clinical trial of NRM-823 in 2H 2025 and leverage its prior work by advancing other modalities against this tumor-specific target, including antibody‑drug conjugates and radiotheranostics. The funding will also be used to advance Normunity’s pipeline of programs that address novel targets responsible for tumor-specific immune suppression. These pipeline candidates derive from Normunity’s proprietary target discovery process, conducted in collaboration with the lab of Professor Lieping Chen, MD PhD, at the Yale University School of Medicine, and built on insights into untapped biological mechanisms that occur from the complex interactions of the immune system and cancer.

“Normunity has an outstanding team that has made impressive progress in discovering and advancing an exciting cancer drug program in NRM-823, which has the potential to address a previously unrecognized target that plays a role in supporting cancer survival across a range of solid tumors,” said David Parry, PhD, Venture Partner at Samsara BioCapital. “We look forward to working with the Normunity team as they continue to advance NRM-823 and other novel agents in the pipeline.”

“The T cell engager space has seen multiple recent successes in solid tumors, and we believe this modality is poised to transform the treatment of numerous cancers in the coming years,” said Sara Nayeem, MD, EVP, Investments at Enavate Sciences.  “We are excited to support the development of NRM-823, which has many characteristics of an ideal T cell engager and has demonstrated compelling preclinical efficacy and safety.”

 

About Normunity

Normunity is a biotechnology company creating novel anti-cancer therapies that address untapped biology at the interface of the immune system and the tumor to target mechanisms that impact tumor growth and circumvent immune surveillance and tumor clearance. The company is using these novel targets to build a pipeline of anti-cancer medicines, including therapeutic antibodies, bispecific antibodies, and payload-carrying biologics. The company’s lead program, NRM‑823, is a T cell engager with tumor-specific targeting for multiple solid tumors and is expected to enter the clinic in 2025. Normunity is located in Boston, MA, and New Haven, CT. For more information, please visit www.normunity.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

 

Media Contact
Kathryn Morris, The Yates Network LLC
914-204-6412
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com

 

Boston, Mass., and West Haven, Conn. – July 10, 2023 – Normunity, Inc., a biotechnology company creating novel precision anti-cancer immunotherapies, today announced the appointment of Debanjan Ray, MBA, to its board of directors. Mr. Ray currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Synthekine, and he has served in leadership roles for multiple biotechnology companies.

“We are excited to welcome Debanjan to our Board of Directors, as he brings exceptional strategic, operational, and transactional leadership as a CEO and senior executive who has played a critical role in building emerging biotech companies,” said Rachel Humphrey, MD, founding Chief Executive Officer of Normunity. “Debanjan’s impressive track record of creating value in the biopharmaceutical industry from the vantage points of his leadership roles at biotech companies will be of tremendous value as Normunity pursues novel mechanisms for precision immuno-oncology medicines and builds a world-class cancer drug company.”

“I am impressed with the potential of Normunity’s new approach to immune normalization to transform cancer immunotherapy and deliver new medicines that can meaningful improve treatment for cancer patients,” said Mr. Ray. “I look forward to working with the other Board members and the Normunity team at this exciting stage of the company’s growth as it advances immunotherapy candidates with novel mechanisms for fighting cancer.”

Mr. Ray has twenty years of experience in high-growth companies in the biopharma industry, including leadership expertise in corporate strategy, portfolio management and fundraising, partnering and M&A transactions. He has served as Synthekine’s President and Chief Executive Officer since the company’s formation in 2019 and over that time has led the growth of Synthekine from an early stage platform company to multi-modality, multi-asset clinical stage company. Before joining Synthekine, he served as Chief Financial Officer and head of corporate development at CytomX Therapeutics, capping an eight-year tenure in roles of increasing responsibility. He helped advance CytomX from an early stage platform technology to multi-asset clinical stage company, led financing efforts and closed multiple collaborations with several leading pharmaceutical companies including Bristol Myers Squibb, AbbVie, and Amgen, that generated over $500 million in upfront payments and up to $5 billion in milestones. Prior to joining CytomX in 2011, Mr. Ray was VP of Business Development at Itero Biopharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career, Debanjan held positions in business development at Portola Pharmaceuticals, in the life sciences venture practice at J.P. Morgan Partners and as a business analyst in the healthcare practice at McKinsey & Company. He received his MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and his BS in chemical engineering and biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

About Normunity

Normunity, Inc., is a biotechnology company creating a new class of precision immuno-oncology medicines, called immune normalizers, that target novel mechanisms that free the body’s normal immunity against cancer. Based on an ongoing, interactive academic-biotech partnership with the lab of Dr. Lieping Chen at Yale School of Medicine, Normunity is targeting newly discovered mechanisms of immune disruption in cancer based on proprietary discovery platforms that elucidate the complex interactions between human cancer and the immune system. The company is advancing an emerging pipeline of immune normalizers, including initial drug programs that target mechanisms that drive the exclusion of T-cells from immune-sensitive tumors and other mechanisms that are barriers to normal immune function in cancer. Normunity is located in Boston, Mass. and West Haven, Conn. For more information, please visit www.normunity.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Media Contact
Kathryn Morris, The Yates Network LLC
914-204-6412
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com

— Partnership leverages Alloy’s high velocity antibody discovery offering to accelerate Normunity’s novel precision immuno-oncology pipeline —

BOSTON, MA; November 17, 2022—Alloy Therapeutics, a biotechnology ecosystem company, announced an antibody discovery collaboration spanning multiple precision immuno-oncology programs for Normunity, a biotech company that recently announced its $65 million Series A financing. The collaboration will support the advancement of Normunity’s immune normalizers, antibody therapies designed to target novel mechanisms that free the body’s normal immunity to fight cancer, which are conceived through a unique biotech-academic collaboration with a renowned immuno-oncology university research lab.

Alloy democratizes access to tools, technologies, and services that are foundational for discovering and developing therapeutic biologics and has partnered with more than 130 discovery teams across academia, biotech, and large biopharma organizations. Through its discovery services offering, Alloy conducts high-touch, bespoke therapeutic discovery campaigns against partners’ targets of interest.

“Our partnership reflects an exciting opportunity to pair Normunity’s insights in immune disruption and cancer disease biology with Alloy’s world-class antibody discovery expertise,” said Normunity Chief Scientific Officer William LaRochelle, PhD. “We value Alloy’s collaborative approach and look forward to working together to advance the best therapeutic antibodies to target mechanisms discovered through Normunity’s platforms.”

The collaboration between Alloy and Normunity is leveraging Alloy’s high velocity antibody discovery services offering, Daedamab, which takes a sequencing-first approach to antibody discovery that reduces discovery timelines without sacrificing quality. The Daedamab team is based in Alloy’s research facility in Athens, GA, and its workflow comprises the ATX-Gx™, Alloy’s proprietary mice platform for human therapeutic antibody discovery, in addition to robust B cell isolation, next generation sequencing, cloning-free expression and a high throughput screening process—all supported by a rich informatics engine.

“We are very excited to work with Normunity on its set of unique immuno-oncology targets using our high velocity NGS-based antibody discovery methods leveraging the ATX-Gx platform,” said Richard Shimkets, PhD, SVP of Genetics and New Technologies at Alloy Therapeutics and CEO of the Daedamab site. “This relationship is emblematic of Alloy’s expertise in deploying the right technologies and processes to find our partners the best therapeutic antibodies against the novel targets they bring us.”

Normunity is advancing into the clinic with programs that target mechanisms that drive the exclusion of T cells into immune-sensitive tumors and aim to deliver an active and effective immune system into cold tumors.

About Daedamab
Alloy’s Daedamab discovery service offers a novel, fast, powerful sequence-first approach to finding and making the best antibodies. The team is based in Athens, GA and supports Alloy collaborators with complete antibody discovery services, antibody sequencing of customer-provided material, expression and testing of customer-provided antibody sequences, humanization, and optimization services.

 About Alloy Therapeutics
Alloy Therapeutics is a biotechnology ecosystem company empowering the global scientific community to make better medicines together. Through a community of partners across academia, biotech, and the largest biopharma, Alloy democratizes access to pre-competitive tools, technologies, services, and company creation capabilities that are foundational for discovering and developing therapeutic biologics across six modalities, including antibodies, TCRs, genetic medicines, peptides, cell therapies, and drug delivery. Partners may access all current and future technologies for a flat annual fee through Alloy’s Innovation Subscriptions offering. As a reflection of Alloy’s relentless commitment to the scientific community, Alloy reinvests 100% of its revenue in innovation and access to innovation. Join the Alloy Therapeutics community by visiting alloytx.com or following Alloy on LinkedIn.

 About Normunity
Normunity, Inc., is a biotechnology company creating a new class of precision immuno-oncology medicines, called immune normalizers, that target novel mechanisms that free the body’s normal immunity against cancer. Based on an ongoing, interactive academic-biotech partnership with the lab of Dr. Lieping Chen at Yale School of Medicine, Normunity is targeting newly-discovered mechanisms of immune disruption in cancer based on proprietary discovery platforms that elucidate the complex interactions between human cancer and the immune system. The company is advancing an emerging pipeline of immune normalizers, including initial drug programs that target mechanisms that drive the exclusion of T-cells from immune-sensitive tumors and other mechanisms that are barriers to normal immune function in cancer. Normunity is located in Boston, Mass. and West Haven, Conn. For more information, please visit www.normunity.com.

Company’s medicines target unprecedented mechanisms that free the body’s normal immunity against cancer

Immuno-oncology discovery engine based on ongoing academic-biotech research from the Lieping Chen lab at Yale School of Medicine

First pipeline programs focused on novel mechanisms of tumor T-cell exclusion

 

Boston, Mass., and West Haven, Conn. – October 25, 2022 – Normunity, Inc., a biotechnology company creating novel precision anti-cancer immunotherapies, today announced its launch and Series A financing of $65 million. The Series A was led by Canaan Ventures and included participation by Sanofi Ventures, Taiho Ventures and Osage University Partners. Normunity’s new class of agents, called immune normalizers, target previously undiscovered mechanisms of immune disruption in cancer. The company’s pipeline is drawn from the ongoing and interactive academic-biotech research taking place at Yale School of Medicine, leveraging proprietary discovery platforms from the lab of Dr. Lieping Chen, an immuno-oncology luminary who identified PD-L1 (B7-H1) among other seminal contributions to the field.

“The normal immune system is a powerful anti-cancer force, and effective immune-stimulating strategies can result in long-lasting cancer remissions, even cures. Yet, today’s immunotherapies don’t capitalize on the full anti-cancer potential of the normal immune system, and most cancer patients do not respond to available treatment options. This leaves an untapped immune biology that we have begun to uncover,” said Lieping Chen, MD, PhD, scientific founder of Normunity and UTC Professor in Cancer Research and Professor of Immunobiology, of Dermatology and of Medicine (Medical Oncology) at Yale School of Medicine. “Working together with Normunity, we are finding previously hidden mechanisms of tumor-dependent immune disruption and we aim to usher in a new era of drug discovery for precision immuno-oncology with medicines that normalize immune function.”

The Series A financing will enable Normunity to advance its emerging pipeline of immune normalizers into the clinic. The company’s initial pipeline programs target mechanisms that drive the exclusion of T cells into immune-sensitive tumors and aim to deliver an active and effective immune system into ‘cold’ tumors. Proceeds from the financing will also be used to build on multiple discovery platforms in the Lieping Chen lab to pursue additional mechanisms that block normal anti-cancer immunity.

“It is so clear to everyone involved in launching Normunity that there is remarkable potential to translate the Lieping Chen lab’s leading-edge discoveries into breakthrough cancer immunotherapies. We have built the right team and the right seamless collaboration between Normunity and the Lieping Chen lab to rapidly cultivate scientific discovery, jointly share expertise, and advance a novel class of drugs that can potentially set a new standard in the immuno-oncology landscape,” said Tim Shannon, MD, General Partner at Canaan Ventures and Chair of Normunity’s Board of Directors.

The company’s unique model is a collaborative and iterative workflow between the Lieping Chen lab and Normunity to identify novel immuno-oncology mechanisms through proprietary platforms, interrogate and validate the emerging targets together pre-clinically and clinically. This academic-biotech alliance leverages world-class scientists with deeply experienced drug designers and developers in a new way.

“Normunity is leading the way in establishing a new roadmap for I-O drug discovery with a simple and powerful premise: to free the immune system to work with maximal potential against cancer. With our scientific approach, we are pioneering novel mechanisms where there is unexplored potential for new medicines. With our R&D model, we have established a first-of-a-kind collaboration with the Lieping Chen lab that has already been prolific in identifying and validating novel targets,” said Rachel Humphrey, MD, founding Chief Executive Officer. “We have strong momentum advancing our pipeline of immune normalizers as we translate groundbreaking biology into life-changing medicines for cancer patients.”

Leadership in immuno-oncology

Leading the academic-biotech teams that are harnessing the potential of the Lieping Chen lab’s proprietary platforms and Normunity’s drug development are Rachel Humphrey, MD, Normunity’s Chief Executive Officer, and Lieping Chen, MD, PhD, whose lab is responsible for many important discoveries in immuno-oncology pathways.

Among his seminal contributions to the field of immuno-oncology, Dr. Chen played an integral role in the discovery of the PD‑1/PD-L1 pathway and its immune-suppressive functions. His lab performed foundational work that led to the invention of anti‑PD‑1/PD‑L1 antibody therapy. In addition, he was deeply involved in the first-in-human trial for Opdivo® (nivolumab), and invented PD-L1 clinical measurement tools. Dr. Humphrey has 25 years of experience with a focus in oncology, including leading the development of the cancer immunotherapies Yervoy® (ipilimumab) at BMS and Imfinzi® (durvalumab) at AstraZeneca, as well as the tyrosine kinase inhibitor Nexavar® (sorafenib) at Bayer. Her biotech leadership roles include CMO at Black Diamond Therapeutics, CytomX and Mirati, and independent Board of Director positions at CytomX, Xilio, Pyxis and Sporos.

The Normunity team brings together experienced drug development leaders with decades of experience in novel drug discovery and clinical advancement of novel cancer and immuno-oncology drugs who have played key roles in the development of more than 30 distinct approved drugs.

About Normunity

Normunity, Inc., is a biotechnology company creating a new class of precision immuno-oncology medicines, called immune normalizers, that target novel mechanisms that free the body’s normal immunity against cancer. Based on an ongoing, interactive academic-biotech partnership with the lab of Dr. Lieping Chen at Yale School of Medicine, Normunity is targeting newly-discovered mechanisms of immune disruption in cancer based on proprietary discovery platforms that elucidate the complex interactions between human cancer and the immune system. The company is advancing an emerging pipeline of immune normalizers, including initial drug programs that target mechanisms that drive the exclusion of T-cells from immune-sensitive tumors and other mechanisms that are barriers to normal immune function in cancer. Normunity is located in Boston, Mass. and West Haven, Conn. For more information, please visit www.normunity.com.

 

Media Contact
Kathryn Morris, The Yates Network LLC
914-204-6412
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com

 

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