NEW YORK – NextPoint Therapeutics on Wednesday closed a $42.5 million extension of a Series B financing, bringing the total amount raised in the round to $122.5 million.
The financing extension was led by Catalio Capital Management, MPM BioImpact, Leaps by Bayer, Sanofi Ventures, Invus, Sixty Degree Capital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Binney Street Capital, and NextPoint founder Gordon Freeman, along with new investors Arkin Bio-Capital and WTT Investment. Concurrent with the funding, R. Jacob Vogelstein, cofounder and managing partner of Catalio Capital Management, has joined NextPoint's board of directors.
NextPoint, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has two clinical immuno-oncology candidates in its pipeline: NPX267 and NPX887, which both target the HHLA2 pathway. The firm is studying NPX267 in a Phase I trial in cancers known to express HHLA2, including non-small cell lung, renal cell, colorectal, bile duct, pancreatic, urothelial, gastric, breast, endometrial, cervical, osteosarcoma, and prostate cancers. In December, the firm was cleared to begin a Phase I trial of NPX887 in patients with solid tumors known to express HHLA2.
Both studies will use HHLA2 as a biomarker to select patients for treatment, according to a company spokesperson, and researchers will also collect and sequence tumor and blood samples to explore biomarkers of response.
"This new round of financing underscores the support and confidence of our premier syndicate of investors, and we are well positioned to build upon our growing pipeline of multimodal therapeutics targeting the novel HHLA2 pathway," NextPoint CEO Ivan Cheung said in a statement. "We are advancing a diverse set of assets into clinical trials to exploit HHLA2's role as both a novel immune checkpoint and a tumor-targeting mechanism. We are thrilled to pioneer a new class of monotherapies to treat both hot and cold tumors."
NextPoint launched the Series B funding round in January 2023 and initially raised $80 million.