CRISPR specialist raises $80m in funding
US company KSQ Therapeutics, a specialist in using CRISPR for drug development, has raised $80 million in series C funding.
In announcing the news today, September 28, the company said the money will be used to advance oncology drug candidates generated from its CRISPRomics drug discovery engine into clinical studies. The first of these, a modified adoptive T-cell immunotherapy, is expected to reach the clinic within 18 months.
Using its CRISPRomics platform, KSQ has initiated and advanced 12 oncology drug discovery programmes over the past 12 months. These cover three oncology drug categories: adoptive T-cell therapies, immuno-oncology, and targeted therapies.
Alongside founding investors Flagship Pioneering and Polaris Partners, plus existing investors ARCH Venture Partners and Alexandria Equities, new investors Baillie Gifford, Cowen Healthcare Investments, Invus and Lilly Asia Ventures have all taken part in the series 3 funding.
David Meeker, CEO of KSQ, said the CRISPRomics engine has systematically pinpointed cancer targets across two platforms—one for targeted therapies and the other for immuno-oncology—and shown “extraordinary scale, precision and speed in generating our pipeline of more than a dozen drug programmes”.
With the new financing, he added, “we are well positioned to take the next steps in realising the potential of CRISPRomics to advance medicines that will have meaningful impact for patients”.
The investment comes nearly a year after the company secured a similar level of funding for drug development—in October 2017, KSQ received $76 million to develop treatments using CRISPRomics.
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