NEW YORK – Fore Biotherapeutics on Wednesday closed a $75 million Series D financing round led by SR One and Medicxi.
The firm's existing investors also participated in the funding round, including OrbiMed, HBM Healthcare Investments, Novartis Venture Fund, 3B Future Health Fund, Cormorant Asset Management, Wellington Management, and Samsung Securities. Concurrent with the financing, Giovanni Mariggi, partner at Medicxi, was appointed to Fore's board of directors.
Fore will use the proceeds to develop its lead candidate, the BRAF inhibitor plixorafenib. The drug is currently undergoing a Phase I/IIa registrational trial in advanced BRAF-mutated solid tumors, including primary central nervous system tumors, in both adult and pediatric patients. The trial includes patients whose tumors harbor a BRAF V600 mutation and those who have non-V600 alterations, including BRAF point mutations, amplifications, fusions, insertions, and deletions.
In June, Fore reported that plixorafenib in this trial demonstrated a 39 percent response rate in patients with BRAF V600 mutations who had not received prior MAPK pathway inhibitor treatment. In patients who had received prior MAPK inhibitors, the response rate on plixorafenib was 18 percent. The company also reported one complete response in a patient with AGK-BRAF-fused melanoma.
In May, the US Food and Drug Administration granted plixorafenib orphan drug designation as a potential treatment for primary brain and central nervous system malignancies. Last year, the agency also granted the drug fast track designation as a treatment for patients with cancers bearing BRAF fusions and BRAF V600 mutations.
Philadelphia-based Fore also said on Wednesday that its CEO Matthew Ros will step down from the role next month. While the firm searches for a replacement, Shawn Leland, adviser to SR One and former CEO of Elevation Oncology, will be interim CEO.