Investment: Nectin Therapeutics

The firm: Nectin Therapeutics is a privately held company that is funded by Cancer Focus Fund and other venture capital funds. Based in Israel with its main branch in the New York area, the drug firm is pioneering development of next generation cancer therapies. Nectin has uncovered ways tumors manage to escape and resist current treatments, and is creating new therapies to overcome resistance to existing treatments that fail in 80% of cancers. 

Amount: $5.4 million

Drug: NTX1088

Targets: Advanced and metastatic solid tumors

How NTX1088 works: It disrupts attempts of cancer cells to hide from the immune system and boosts the immune response.

How it’s different: NTX1088 targets PVR, a protein that helps cancer cells evade detection. But the first-in-class drug also places a bullseye on other proteins and boosts the immune system to attack tumors from many angles. 

Trial: 90-patient Phase 1 open label study conducted in two stages – a dose escalation stage and an expansion stage. NTX1088 is being investigated as a single agent and in combination with a PD1 blocker.

Website: https://www.nectintx.com