BrainChild Bio’s lead asset BCB-276 is in pivotal development for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a rare and fatal brain tumor that affects around 300 children in the U.S. every year.
BrainChild Bio has raised $119 million in series A money, which will help the Washington- and Massachusetts-based biotech advance CAR T therapies for cancers afflicting the central nervous system in children.
In particular, BrainChild will use the new capital to support the Phase 2 ILLUMINATE study of lead asset BCB-276 for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), according to a Tuesday morning news release. Designed to be a pivotal trial, ILLUMINATE is an open-label, single-arm study aiming to enroll 75 patients with newly diagnosed DIPG, with topline data expected in 2028.
Affecting around 300 children in the U.S. every year, DIPG is a high-grade brain tumor that is “uniformly fatal,” BrainChild said in a separate media announcement on Tuesday. Symptoms include slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, balance problems and drooping facial features. Currently, according to the biotech, the only treatment option for DIPG is palliative focal radiation.
BrainChild’s solution is the autologous CAR T therapy BCB-276, which targets B7-H3, a protein that is “universally expressed” in DIPG, according to the company’s website. BCB-276 is administered directly to the cerebrospinal fluid, which the biotech on Tuesday said allows the asset to “directly access the tumor bed.”
Aside from BCB-276, the series A will help advance the development of BCB-214, another CAR T therapy that targets three cancer markers: B7-H3, EGFR and IL13Rα2—a targeting profile that, according to BrainChild, is meant to overcome cancer heterogeneity and the immunosuppressive environment around tumors.
BCB-214 is currently in pre-clinical development for glioblastoma, with the series A cash allowing for initial clinical testing, according to the announcement.
BrainChild’s series A raise was led by an undisclosed private family fund and foundation. Seattle Children’s Hospital, which launched the biotech in late 2023, and new investor WRF Capital participated in the funding effort.
Biopharma has seen a notable uptick in venture capital financing this year, in what Cooley partner Mike Nelson said is a “selective recovery” for the industry. Investor dollars, he told BioSpace in July, has been flowing heavily into de-risked clinical-stage assets and more novel modalities, such as biologics and antibody-based therapies.
Notable VC raises this year include Isomorphic Labs’ massive $2.1 billion series B in May and Parabilis Medicines’ $305 million series F in January—which set the biotech up for a record $670 million initial public offering in June.
