PACT Pharma raises $75m to develop neoTCR-T cell therapies for solid tumors

PACT Pharma, a California-based clinical stage company, which is focused on developing fully personalized neoTCR-T cell therapies for solid tumors, has raised $75 million in a Series C financing round.

The funding round was led by Vida Ventures, a life science venture firm, with participation from the current investors of PACT Pharma.

The clinical stage company will utilize the proceeds from the Series C financing round and the previous funding rounds to investigate neoTCR-T cell candidates targeting multiple neoantigens for a range of solid tumor types.

Helen S. Kim – Managing Director at Vida Ventures said: “Our investment in PACT Pharma represents our goal to fund scientific advances by embracing cutting edge innovation with the potential to make a meaningful difference in the lives of patients.

“PACT has developed a pioneering platform of personalized designer T cells with the potential to target some of the most elusive solid cancers facing society today.”

PACT Pharma raises $75m to develop neoTCR-T cell therapies for solid tumors. Image courtesy of skeeze from Pixabay.

Apart from clinical expansion, PACT Pharma will open a GMP manufacturing facility in San Francisco this year to support the end-to-end production and supply chain for the engineering of customized neoantigen-targeted autologous T cells.

PACT Pharma said that under the leadership of its President and Chief Technology Officer Tim Moore, the company will make use of the new in-house manufacturing facility to automate manufacturing and analytic processes to bring down cycle time and manufacturing costs.

Alex Franzusoff – CEO of PACT Pharma said: “PACT has grown from company launch to opening its first-in-kind clinical trial in two years. Our progress has been exhilarating and the support from our existing investors has made that progress possible.

“As we look to the next stage of our development and expansion of our clinical programs, we are excited to have interest from a new group of prominent investors who both understand the potential of NeoTCR-T cell therapy and have direct experience in the space.

“Vida Ventures stood out as a partner of choice, given their depth of operational experience in research, clinical development and manufacturing in cell therapy as well as their proven ability to guide companies like Kite and Allogene across key stages of development.”