Pheast Gets a $76 Million Series A to Feed Pipeline of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

Pheast Therapeutics, a preclinical immuno-oncology biotech based in California, is cooking up checkpoint inhibitors that teach the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells. Now, it has bagged $76 million in Series A funding to advance its pipeline and grow its management, scientific, and administrative leadership. 

The Series A was led by Catalio Capital Management and ARCH Venture Partners, and was joined by Alexandria Venture Investments and Risk and Reward (R2).

Preclinical Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

Pheast spun out from Dr. Irving Weissman’s lab at Stanford University. In addition to Dr. Weissman, MD, the company is helmed by Dr. Amira Barkal, MD, PhD, Dr. Ravi Majeti, MD, PhD, and Dr. Roy Maute, PhD. 

Dr. Weissman and Dr. Majeti were co-founders of Forty Seven Inc. (acquired by Gilead in 2020). The two scientists played a role in the discovery of CD47 as a “don’t eat me” signal to phagocytes. With the help of Dr. Barkal, Dr. Weissman also pinpointed a similar signal in CD24, which may be a potential target for immunotherapy against solid tumors.

Dr. Barkal, who is serving as Pheast’s interim CEO, believes that while immunotherapy has changed the treatment landscape for cancer, many cancers such as ovarian and breast cancers “have seen lackluster responses to existing immunotherapies”. 

Related Article: Assembling the Aging Trajectory of Immune Cells with Single Cell Sequencing

Targeting the “Don’t Eat Me” Signal Expressed by Cancer Cells

While most of the existing immunotherapies target T-cells to boost the adaptive immune response, Pheast is taking an alternative route, by targeting macrophages instead. 

Their pipeline will target a new signaling axis through CD24, which has shown promise in animals on ovarian, breast, and other solid tumors. Pheast also aims to combine their checkpoint inhibitors with existing immunotherapies, tumor-targeting antibodies, and chemotherapies. 

By presenting “don’t eat me” signals such as CD24, cancer cells can evade the immune system. The protein, a cell adhesion molecule, also plays a role in regulating the proliferation of T-cells, and hence can lower inflammation. CD24 is also under investigation as a treatment for COVID-19.

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Joy Lin

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