Mavupharma raises $20M series A for STING

Mavupharma Inc. (Kirkland, Wash.) raised $20 million in a series A round led by Frazier Healthcare Partners. Alpine BioVentures also participated.

Mavupharma is developing orally bioavailable, non-nucleotide agonists of the transmembrane protein 173 (STING; TMEM173) pathway to treat cancer and infectious diseases. While STING's natural ligands are cyclic dinucleotides, President Michael Gallatin said Mavupharma is using non-nucleotide small molecules to indirectly modulate the STING pathway within the tumor microenvironment or virally infected tissue...