Checkmate
Pharmaceuticals, a Cambridge, Mass-based clinical-stage Biopharmaceutical Company envisioned on developing new approaches for cancer immunotherapy, accomplished a $27M Series B financing.The round was led by new sponsor F-Prime Capital Partners with involvement from existing investors Sofinnova and venBio Partners.
Directed by Karen Brennan, COO, and Art Krieg, CEO, Checkmate is a clinical stage company leveraging its skill and the enormous body of knowledge in the field of CpG oligonucleotides and is validating a method that will coalesce the capacity of CpG DNA to trigger an anti-tumor T cell response with checkpoint inhibition to conquer a tumor’s ability to silent the immune response.
The company aims to use the funds to further advance clinical development of CMP-001, a CpG-A oligonucleotide that activates the innate immune system through Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9), and which is presently being studied in a Phase 1B trial in combination with pembrolizumab in primary refractory melanoma patients who have either progressed on or failed to respond to anti-PD-1 therapy.
Exclusively, the extra funding will enable Checkmate to perform advanced studies in melanoma as well as pursue studies in additional indications in which the combination approach may prove to be of clinical benefit. The combination therapy of CMP-001 and pembrolizumab has the potential to increase the amount of cancer patients who react to checkpoint inhibitor therapies and to boost the magnitude and duration of the anti-tumor responses, providing added clinical advantage.