CHICAGO - Wednesday, 25. October 2023 AETOSWire
Proprietary nanotechnology platform enables the development of powerful new immunotherapies
- Initial studies show curative data in animal models
- The Flashpoint platform broadly enables the delivery of RNA, DNA, and peptide payloads
(BUSINESS WIRE)--Flashpoint Therapeutics, a company developing nanotechnology-enabled therapeutics for cancer and other diseases, announced today a $10M seed financing round led by Beta Lab, a leading deep tech venture capital firm headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with participation from leading private equity investor Russell Carson’s CS Venture Opportunities Fund.
The funding will be used to advance its first therapeutic candidate in oncology, nominate a second development candidate, and advance multiple internal and partnered discovery programs. Flashpoint will also use the funds to expand its team and enhance the platform to develop best-in-class multi-targeted RNA, CRISPR and peptide therapeutics with unique characteristics.
Flashpoint nanostructures are all-in-one formulations that kinetically tune and co-deliver precise combinations of therapeutic components. This approach overcomes limitations of current technologies that rely on mixing therapeutic components with little control over their co-delivery or structural presentation. The company’s proprietary discovery platform is founded on nanotechnology research developed over the past 10 years in the laboratory of Chad Mirkin, Director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University.
Validated in numerous in-vivo models, this technology enables the development of therapeutic candidates with superior product profiles by co-delivering diverse payloads to the right target cells with precise stoichiometry, optimized structure-function relationship, and synchronized activation kinetics. This capability overcomes many major limitations of current therapeutics that have focused on defining potent components but cannot control how they work together.
“We are thrilled to announce a $10 million seed financing round led by Beta Lab, a leading deep tech venture capital firm,” said Adam Margolin, Ph.D., CEO & Founder, Flashpoint Therapeutics. “Biotechnology has created tools capable of modulating any disease process. To translate these tools into cures, we need to get the right combinations into the right cells in the right structure to induce their function at the right time. By solving these challenges for the first time, Flashpoint’s technology has consistently transformed ineffective components into highly effective therapies based on preclinical studies. This substantial investment will allow us to move our candidates into the clinic.”
The company’s initial candidate will be a first-in-class cancer immunotherapy that delivers precise cocktails of immune stimulatory molecules with nanoscale architecture and activation kinetics optimized to induce robust, coordinated anti-tumor immune response. This approach yields 35 times increased co-delivery of therapeutic components to immune cells, 80 times stronger immune activation, and 650% greater tumor killing.
Using the same drug components that are ineffective in conventional formulations, Flashpoint immunotherapies have shown promise for treating breast cancer, lymphoma, cervical cancer, melanoma, colon cancer, glioma, and prostate cancer. Based on these studies, the company will advance the best of these candidates into clinical trials.
“Effective cancer therapy requires co-activating multiple pathways in the same cell. But current drugs just mix together components and hope they randomly come together at the right place and time. Flashpoint overcomes limitations of this approach by integrating therapeutic components within nanostructures that control their co-delivery and coordinated activation of the multiple pathways required for the immune system to kill tumors,” said Mirkin.
Preclinical studies beyond immuno-oncology have demonstrated that Flashpoint’s technology can enhance virtually all therapeutic modalities – including RNA, peptide, and CRISPR – by enabling superior uptake by target cells outside of the liver, cargo co-delivery, stability in circulation, target activation, and reduced immunogenicity.
A proof of concept clinical study using Flashpoint’s technology has demonstrated delivery of nucleic acid cargo to the brain. Flashpoint plans to partner with leading companies in nucleic acid and peptide therapeutics to develop best-in-class therapeutic candidates in these areas.
“Flashpoint's technology stands out from other treatment modalities in the market. Extensive data shows its ability to consistently improve therapy effectiveness, and the platform’s elegant design allows it to be added to existing candidates. Any company partnering with Flashpoint stands to gain a unique advantage over the competition. It would be almost negligent not to test if Flashpoint’s platform can enhance candidates in their pipeline,” said Abdulrahman Al-Olayen, Managing Director of Beta Lab. Adam brings a deeply personal mission to the company. Motivated by the loss of his mother to cancer at a young age, he has dedicated his career to developing novel cancer therapies. We are eager to support Adam in his passionate mission to develop a new class of breakthrough therapies to benefit patients.”
“We invest in transformative technologies and Flashpoint’s superior technologies have the potential to transform the way that therapeutics are developed, said Quinten Stevens, General Partner of CS Venture Opportunities Fund. Professor Chad Mirkin is a visionary, and this marks our second Chad founded company portfolio investment. We are delighted to partner with Chad and Adam and support them in successfully growing Flashpoint and developing their technologies, which will have a material benefit to society.
About Flashpoint Therapeutics
Flashpoint Therapeutics brings a new approach to designing cancer immunotherapies that transform therapeutic components from ineffective to curative through optimized nanoscale architecture. The company’s nanotechnology-based discovery platform enables more potent multi-targeted therapies by co-delivering diverse RNA, DNA, and peptide cargo to the right cells with precise control of stoichiometry, optimized structure-function relationship and synchronized activation kinetics. For more information, visit: https://www.flashpoint.bio.
About Beta Lab
Beta Lab is a leading deep tech venture capital firm dedicated to fueling the growth of cutting-edge technologies and transformative ideas. With a focus on supporting visionary entrepreneurs and disruptive startups, Beta Lab invests in ventures that have the potential to reshape industries and drive meaningful change in society.
About CS Venture Opportunities Fund, L.P.
CS Venture Opportunities Fund, L.P. was founded by Russell Carson (founder of highly successful private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe) and Quinten Stevens in March 2022. The fund is focused on early-stage venture capital investing. The strategy is to invest in compelling, transformative, and potentially disruptive technologies sourced from brilliant scientists, at top US research universities. Investments are made across a range of industries including advanced medical and industrial technology, life sciences, and software.
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