OncoResponse, a Seattle, WA-based clinical-stage biotech company, raised $14M in funding.
The round was led by RiverVest Venture Partners and including ARCH Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, 3B Future Health Fund, Bering Capital, Takeda Ventures, InterVest and others. OncoResponse has also been awarded a $13M grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).
The company intends to use the funds to support the advancement of OR502, an anti-LILRB2 antibody poised to move to IND and clinical studies.
Led by CEO Clifford Stocks, OncoResponse is a clinical-stage, immuno-oncology biotech company developing cancer immunotherapies using clues from the immune systems of Elite Cancer Responders. In a broad strategic alliance with MD Anderson Cancer Center, OncoResponse deploys a proprietary B-cell discovery platform to identify and develop novel antibodies targeting immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. Its lead clinical candidate, OR2805, is a fully human antibody discovered using B cells derived from an Elite Responder to checkpoint inhibitor (CPI) therapy. OR2805 has entered cohort expansion trials in multiple cancer indications. Additional pipeline candidates that modulate suppressive macrophage activity are under development, including OR502, an anti-LILRB2 antibody that rescues innate and adaptive immune responses from LILRB2-mediated immune suppression. OR502 will enter clinical studies in 2023.