San Diego-based Rakuten Aspyrian nabbed $150 million in a Series C financing round. The funding provides the company with a total of $238 million in equity. Rakuten Aspyrian will use the funds to drive its lead therapy into Phase III trials.
San Diego-based Rakuten Aspyrian nabbed $150 million in a Series C financing round. The funding provides the company with a total of $238 million in equity. Rakuten Aspyrian will use the funds to drive its lead therapy into Phase III trials.
The Series C was led by Hiroshi Mikitani, chief executive officer of Rakuten Inc., a global e-commerce, communications and fintech company. Mikitani is chairman of Rakuten Aspyrian’s board of directors. The goal of developing treatments for cancer patients is the motivation behind the investment made by Mikitani, he said in a statement. He said that mission is something he began to pursue more than two decades ago.
“Rakuten Aspyrian’s approach of combining a biologic with laser-activation to target tumors holds the potential to offer an alternative treatment option to help cancer patients fight their disease. Our company has advanced rapidly in developing this technology and is now poised to start Phase III studies. My vision is to develop and commercialize a strong pipeline of treatments based on photoimmunotherapy to create a new platform for cancer treatments,” Mikitani said in a statement.
The financing will be used to advance Rakuten Aspyrian’s lead candidate ASP-1929, a conjugate of cetuximab and IRDye 700DX. The drug has been developed to target epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a cancer antigen expressed in multiple types of solid tumors, including head and neck squamous cell carcinomas, esophagus, lung, colon, pancreas and other cancers, the company said. ASP-1929 received Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Interim results of the Phase I/II trial in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma showed clinically meaningful improvement in the overall response rate. Additionally, the interim results showed potential improvements in progression-free survival and overall survival when compared to historical data for the standard of care treatments, the company said. Top-line results of the Phase I/II trial are expected later this year.
The company intends to take ASP-1929 into Phase III trials for the treatment of recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. Additionally, the company said the financing will support manufacturing scale-up for the potential commercialization of ASP-1929. Additionally, Rakuten Aspyrian said the funding will be used to support corporate growth aimed at the potential commercial launch of ASP-1929 in the United States, Japan and Europe.
Rakuten Aspyrian is also looking to use a portion of the funding to initiate two Phase II proof of concept studies of ASP-1929 in other cancer types before the end of 2018.
The Series C funding will also support the expansion of the company’s R&D efforts. Rakuten Aspyrian said that includes evaluating the safety of ASP-1929, as well as other therapies in a range of cancers.
Miguel Garcia-Guzman, president and chief executive officer of Rakuten Aspyrian, said the company is “honored” to be working with Hiroshi Mikitani. Garcia-Guzman called Mikitani a “visionary leader” who supports the company’s long-term mission of “conquering cancer.”
“With this influx of capital, we are well positioned to advance our company to the next phase towards developing a fully integrated R&D and commercial biopharmaceutical corporation advancing first-in-class precision tumor-targeted therapies,” Garcia-Guzman said in a statement.
