Cancer startup TMunity raises $100 million to advance next-generation T cell Immunotherapies to transform the treatment of cancer

TMunity announced it has raised $100 million in Series A financing from Be The Match BioTherapies, a subsidiary of the National Marrow Donor Program, a patient advocacy group, Sean Parker’s Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, drug giant Gilead Sciences and Ping An Ventures, the venture arm of China’s largest insurance company. The Series A funding will be used to advance and expand the business and operational structure of Tmunity to support the rapid translation, development and manufacture of its portfolio of novel T cell based immunotherapies, first for the treatment of cancer. The biotechnology startup company was founded around the work of cancer immunotherapy pioneer Carl June.

Founded in 2015 by Anne Chew, Bruce Blazar, Bruce Levine, Carl June, James Riley and Yangbing Zhao, Tmunity Therapeutics is a private biotherapeutics company focused on saving and improving lives by delivering the full potential of next-generation T cell immunotherapy to patients with devastating diseases. Tmunity was founded on an exclusive collaboration and license agreement with the University of Pennsylvania, offering proprietary technologies and unparalleled expertise in first-in-patient cell and gene therapies of its scientific founders, led by Carl H. June, M.D. Today, Tmunity is uniquely positioned to integrate the best technologies and pursue multiple approaches to engineered T cell therapies simultaneously in order to advance treatments into the clinic rapidly, optimize and scale manufacturing, pursue regulatory approvals aggressively, and thus deliver them effectively to patients.

“Tmunity is unlike any other cell-based immunotherapy ‘startup’ because of the unrivaled expertise of its scientific founders and leadership team in cell and gene therapy and its proven translational and manufacturing success in T cell medicine,” said Jiang Zhang, Managing Partner of Ping An Ventures. “We were also attracted to the global potential of the pipeline, especially the T cell therapies in oncology in China, as well as the scope beyond oncology into autoimmune and infectious diseases, as we begin to expand our investment portfolio.”

“Tmunity was created to integrate and advance proprietary, novel approaches to cell and gene therapies and we have pursued an equally unique approach to the selection of our visionary funding partners,” said Usman “Oz” Azam, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Tmunity. “Our mix of investors brings together global leaders in healthcare services and biopharmaceuticals in Ping An Ventures and Gilead, the visionary philanthropy of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, and Be The Match BioTherapies. Together, they share a common passion to work together to drive the next-generation of personalized therapies for patients. We appreciate their confidence in – and vision for – Tmunity to deliver on that potential. This is a very exciting time for us.”

“We are thrilled to have the support of Be The Match BioTherapies, which shares our belief in the vast untapped potential of T cell immunotherapies for patients,” said Usman “Oz” Azam, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Tmunity. “As we work to create the next-generation of personalized therapies for cancer and other diseases, the support and expertise of Be The Match BioTherapies will be an important resource for us to draw on in support of our mission.”