The CA-based biotech, Vivace Therapeutics, has now finally emerged from stealth mode by disclosing that it has raised $40 million in Series A and Series B financings to help speed its work up on the Hippo-YAP signaling pathway.
The biotech said that its $25 million Series B financing was led by new investor Cenova Capital and included another new investor, Sequoia Capital China, as well as existing investors Canaan Partners, WuXi Healthcare Ventures, and Mission Bay Capital.
The biotech is working on inhibitors of the Hippo-YAP signaling pathway, which is capable of affecting cell development, and genetic mutations of the pathway, which can then give rise to a variety of cancers. When healthy, the pathway controls tissue regeneration, and the size and shape of organs. However, mutations of the YAP, or Yes-associated protein, pathway can contribute to numerous cancers such as gastric, colon, cervical, ovarian, breast, uveal melanoma, mesothelioma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. The activity of this protein is further linked to resistance to targeted therapies and to cancer relapse.
“We envision that YAP inhibitors and LATS1/2 inhibitors could also have broad implications in non-oncology indications such as fibrotic disease and regenerative medicine,” Vivace states on its
website.In addition to its work in small molecules, the company is also developing therapies based on antibodies. Biological drugs that can bind to two target sites on a cancer cell at the same time are called bi-specific antibodies, which Vivace has named BINspecific.
BINspecific antibodies were discovered in the laboratory of another Vivace co-founder, Bin Liu, Ph.D., of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). In addition to Drs. Liu and Guan, Vivace has a third scientific co-founder, Sheng Ding, Ph.D., also of UCSF.
“Since our founding, we have focused on bringing together the best experts from China and the U.S. to turn novel biology into first-in-class cancer therapeutics,” said Vivace president Sofie Qiao.
The biotech says its BINspecific antibodies can achieve superpotent inhibition that is almost irreversible in a cell-type-specific manner, and cellular selectivity of specific targets, creating a superior therapeutics.
Vivace, therefore says, that its research capabilities stretch from California to China.
