NEW YORK – Inceptor Bio said on Thursday that it closed a $37 million Series A financing round led by Kineticos Ventures.
The funds will be used to advance the company's lead CAR-T program into clinical trials and continue development of its earlier stage CAR programs. The company will also use the proceeds to support completion of its Advanced Manufacturing Platform facility that will manufacture cell and gene therapies.
Inceptor's lead autologous CAR T-cell program is in preclinical studies, but the company hopes to advance it into a Phase I clinical trial soon. In the future, the company envisions developing an allogeneic version of this CAR T-cell treatment.
The firm is also developing CAR-M, or CAR-macrophages, and CAR-NK, or CAR-natural killer cells, programs that are in preclinical and discovery stages, respectively. Inceptor is developing these treatments for "difficult-to-treat cancers," but has not disclosed in which tumor types it will study the therapies.
"This Series A funding allows us to focus on advancing our lead CAR-T program into the clinic while continuing to advance our other exciting cell therapy platforms," Inceptor Chief Operating Officer Mike Nicholson said in a statement. "Our programs address serious challenges in the cell therapy arena, and fully realizing the potential of these therapies requires significant capital."
Inceptor, based in Morrisville, North Carolina, licensed its CAR-M program from researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara in December. Last July, the company also acquired its Advanced Manufacturing Platform facility from Arranta Bio for an undisclosed amount.