January 27, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Celebrating its one-year anniversary since launching Unum Therapeutics, a company developing cellular immunotherapies for cancer treatment, took up new office space in one of the hottest real estate areas for pharma and biotech companies.
The company opened a new 33,000 square-foot headquarters in Cambridge, Mass. and is expecting the new space will allow employment to expand to more than 80 employees “in the near future.” On its website, Unum Therapeutics has several job postings including principal scientist director of T-cell biology and technology, T-cell scientist, associate scientist of in-vitro cancer biology, principal scientist of translational medicine and biology, executive assistant and more.
The new headquarters was designed to “foster continued collaboration, including state-of-the-art laboratories and an open office design,” the company said in a statement.
“This unique location allows for a high level of energy and intellectual exchange within and among fast growing early stage companies,” the company said on its website.
Unum evolved from the LabCentral incubator program in Kendall Square, where it was located prior to the Cambridge Drive facility. Unum launched in October 2014 with $12 million in a Series A financing, which was used to enhance its antibody-coupled T-cell receptor technology. The company was also bolstered by $65 million in Series B financing in June of 2015. Unum’s proprietary T-cell engineering technology in combination with tumor-targeting antibodies is designed to enhance the body’s immune system and encourage it to fight cancer. In December, the company announced a Phase I trial to evaluate Unum’s Antibody-Coupled T-cell Receptor platform in Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma patients who have failed to respond or relapsed following treatment with chemotherapy plus rituximab.
“We believe that our ACTR technology platform fuels one of the industry’s most promising immunotherapy drug development programs,” Chuck Wilson, president and chief executive officer of Unum Therapeutics, said in a statement. “To reach our full potential, we need to continue recruiting top-level talent. This move allows us to expand our hiring efforts within the world-class Cambridge, Massachusetts life sciences hub, to house a larger team of scientists, and to continue to leverage our proximity to leading research and academic institutions and healthcare companies. Unum is excited to be joining a growing biotech community in West Cambridge.”
In addition to successful financing rounds, Unum also forged an agreement to develop and commercialize novel antibody-coupled T-cell receptor (ACTR) therapies for cancer with Seattle Genetics in June. Unum’s ACTR technology is being used in conjunction with Seattle Genetics’ tumor-specific therapeutic antibodies. Under terms of the agreement, the companies will initially develop two ACTR products incorporating Seattle Genetics’ antibodies, and Seattle Genetics has an option to expand the collaboration to include a third ACTR product. Unum will conduct preclinical research and clinical development activities through Phase I with funding from Seattle Genetics.
