NEW YORK – Frontier Medicines on Thursday closed an $80 million oversubscribed Series C funding round.
The financing was led by Deerfield Management Company and Droia Ventures, with participation from Galapagos NV, DCVC Bio, MPM Capital, and RA Capital Management.
Frontier, based in South San Francisco, California, will use the funding to advance its pipeline programs into clinical studies, including the firm's lead candidate, the KRAS G12C inhibitor FMC-376. Frontier hasn't disclosed its other oncology programs, which are in the preclinical stage.
On Friday, Frontier also said it began treating patients with locally advanced, unresectable, or metastatic solid tumors harboring a KRAS G12C mutation with FMC-376 in the Phase I/II PROSPER trial. In the trial, the company will enroll up to 403 participants and determine dosage, safety, and preliminary efficacy. Frontier selected FMC-376 as its lead development candidate last year after preclinical data showed it could engage both the on and off state of KRAS G12C, as opposed to other drugs in this class that only affect one state.
"Frontier Medicines has amassed a robust dataset that shows FMC-376 is expected to overcome the resistance seen with prior generation single-acting inhibitors, and we are excited to demonstrate this potential in the clinical setting," Frontier CEO Chris Varma said in a statement. "We look forward to further progress on our pipeline of wholly owned precision medicine programs later this year."
The firm previously raised $88.5 million in a Series B funding round in 2021. Frontier said it has now raised $235.5 million since its founding in 2019.