NEW YORK – Kurome Therapeutics said on Thursday it has closed a $15 million Series A financing round led by Medicxi and Affinity Asset Advisors, with participation from its founding investor CincyTech and other existing seed investors.
With the latest funding, Aaron Kantoff, venture partner at Medicxi, and Daniel Heller, chief investment officer at Affinity Asset Advisors, will join the Kurome Therapeutics' board of directors.
The funding will support preclinical advancement of Kurome's dual IRAK1/4 and panFLT3 inhibitors. The Cincinnati-based company is currently exploring both candidates in acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, patients. Going forward, Kurome aims to expand across a range of hematopoietic cancers including pre-leukemic conditions such as myelodysplastic syndromes, as well as certain solid tumors with dysregulated IRAK1/4 signaling.
"In multi-factorial hematological malignancies like AML, we are excited by the early clinical data of combined IRAK4 and FLT3 inhibition in patients," Kantoff said. "The Kurome team has generated compelling preclinical data that suggests a differentiated approach with potential advantages over others in this emerging space."
Kurome was founded in 2020 based on research from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.
In those preclinical studies, researchers found that its panFLT3 inhibitor showed better overall survival in cell line and patient-derived xenograft models compared to other FLT3 inhibitors. The candidates also showed efficacy in myelodysplastic syndromes and AML patient-derived cell lines.