Primmune Therapeutics announced it has completed an additional $8.6 million close of its Series B financing, bringing the total amount raised in the round to $23.3 million. The latest close included participation from Bioqube Ventures, Oberland Capital, and Samsara Biocapital. The company said the new capital will support continued clinical development of PRTX007, an orally administered, systemically acting small-molecule toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) agonist being developed as an immunotherapy for solid tumors.
Following the financing, Primmune said it plans to initiate Study PRTX007-003, a Phase 2 neoadjuvant efficacy study evaluating PRTX007 in combination with standard-of-care anti-PD-1 therapy in patients with Stage III resectable melanoma. The study is expected to be conducted entirely in Australia through Primmune Therapeutics Pty Ltd., with Novotech serving as the in-country clinical research organization.
Primmune described PRTX007 as designed to shift immune signaling toward an IRF7-driven poly-interferon response and away from NF-KB-mediated pro-inflammatory cytokine signaling, which the company said has limited the utility of other systemically acting TLR agonists. The company said PRTX007 has been administered to more than 100 healthy volunteers across two Phase 1 studies and was generally well-tolerated without serious adverse events.
KEY QUOTES
“This financing enables us to rapidly advance PRTX007 into a clearly defined proof-of-principle study with validated efficacy and safety endpoints, with the goal of establishing PRTX007 as a class-leading immunotherapy option for patients with solid tumors.”
Charlie McDermott, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Primmune Therapeutics
