Portfolio

Abcuro’s mission is to develop a new generation of immunomodulatory therapeutics for treating both autoimmunity and cancer. The company uses proprietary analysis of transcriptome data from human disease to identify new approaches to target key compartments of the immune system. Abcuro was launched in 2016 and is based in Newton, Massachusetts.

The MIF’s investment in Abcuro supports its ongoing development of preclinical therapies directed against a novel immune checkpoint target, KLRG1. Blocking KLRG1 signaling may augment the immune system’s ability to combat tumors by activating Natural Killer (NK) and T cells, which represents a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

The MIF has partnered with San Diego, CA based Cullinan MICA (formerly PDI Therapeutics, Inc.), joining fellow investors Cullinan Oncology, Avalon Ventures, and Bregua Corporation in this Series A round raising $26M. Cullinan MICA focuses on antibody inhibitors targeted to specific protein disulfide isomerases that will ‘unmask’ tumor cells, activating patient immune systems so that they will seek out and eliminate the cancerous cells. Using data from the landmark MMRF CoMMpass Study, the MMRF found evidence to support this novel approach. Thanks to this collaboration and our resulting investment, Cullinan MICA plans to include multiple myeloma patients in its upcoming Phase 1 clinical trial.

CytoImmune is a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company focused on the
development and commercialization of novel NK cell therapies that can be infused into patients to eliminate cancer cells. The firm is currently developing proprietary Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-engineered NK cells (CAR-NK™), which represent an off-the-shelf cell therapy designed to destroy tumor cells by recognizing specific proteins or antigens that are present on the tumor surface.

Fortis Therapeutics is an immuno-oncology biotech developing a novel antibody-drug conjugate for late-stage multiple myeloma and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Fortis was founded based on technology exclusively licensed from UCSF and developed in the laboratory of Bin Liu, Ph.D. Fortis is located in COI Pharmaceuticals, Avalon’s Community of Innovation, in San Diego.

Indapta Therapeutics, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing a proprietary, first-in-class, off-the-shelf allogeneic cell therapy to treat multiple types of difficult-to-treat hematologic cancers and solid tumors. Headquartered in San Francisco, Indapta was founded in 2017 by Guy DiPierro along with Ronald Martell and scientists at the University of California, Davis, and Stanford University. The company has developed allogeneic FcRIγ-deficient natural killer cells, known as G-NK cells, and is working to bring this off-the-shelf cell therapy to patients to address the limitations of currently available autologous T-cell therapies.

KAHR develops novel dual-targeting fusion protein therapeutics engineered to activate both the innate and the adaptive immune systems simultaneously and localize that response in the tumor microenvironment. KAHR’s lead product candidate, DSP107, is a CD47x41BB targeting compound. DSP107 is being tested in a Phase I/II clinical trial in advanced solid tumors and a Phase Ib clinical trial in blood cancers. KAHR’s preclinical pipeline includes DSP502, a PVRxPD-L1 targeting fusion protein, and DSP216, an HLA-GxCD47 targeting fusion protein.

Luminary Therapeutics is a clinical-stage allogeneic cell therapy company focused on combining advanced receptor design with superior cell engineering to overcome antigen escape and T cell dysfunction. Luminary was founded by the team from B-MoGen, which was acquired by Bio-Techne in 2019.

Nectin Therapeutics is a biotechnology company aiming to transform the lives of cancer patients by leveraging its unique insights into the nectin pathway to develop the next generation of immune oncology (IO) therapies. The company’s differentiated therapies have the potential to achieve new standards for efficacy and patient response across a number of difficult-to-treat cancers.

Telo Therapeutics is developing orally bioavailable next generation inhibitors of nuclear transport, a critical nexus among many cancer cell signaling pathways. The company’s unique chemistry and distinct mechanism of action result in a favorable safety profile and lead to rapid tumor regressions across animal models of multiple cancer types. Telo has generated durable complete responses with just two weeks of dosing in xenografts of both multiple myeloma and glioblastoma.

Triumvira Immunologics is a clinical-stage company developing non-gene edited, first-in-class targeted autologous and allogeneic T cell therapeutics that co-opt the natural biology of T cells to treat patients with solid tumors. The company’s proprietary T cell Antigen Coupler (TAC) technology is a versatile platform that activates natural T cell functions differently from cell therapies such as CAR-T and engineered T cell receptor (TCR) therapies. The lead program, TAC01-HER2, is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial for patients with HER2-overexpressing solid tumors (TACTIC-2), including breast, gastric, ovarian, pancreatic, gall bladder and non-small cell lung cancers.