Jan. 11 Quick Takes: Roche cash infusion brings Freenome’s overall haul to $1.1B
Plus: NCI licenses for Neogene, Sana and updates from Allogene-Antion, Illumina bluebird, ONK, Gameto
A $290 million investment by Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY) will help Freenome Inc. speed up and supplement development of the early cancer detection company’s platform to evaluate additional oncology indications and expand its real-world data programs. The investment brings the total funds raised by the South San Francisco to more than $1.1 billion since its founding in 2014.
Neogene Therapeutics Inc. exclusively licensed a portfolio of T cell receptors (TCRs) targeting KRAS and p53 from the National Cancer Institute that could form the basis of new therapeutic modalities against the challenging targets that sidestep small molecule resistance mechanisms. The company has exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize a portfolio of autologous and allogeneic CRISPR engineered T cell therapies expressing the TCRs, which were discovered in Stephen Rosenberg’s lab. Neogene, which raised $110 million in a 2020 series A round co-led by Jeito Capital, EcoR1 Capital and Syncona Ltd. (LSE:SYNC), will provide undisclosed upfront and milestone payments, plus royalties...