Ascenion’s portfolio company T-knife receives $110 million for the development of innovative T-cell therapies in cancer
Initiation of the IMAGE1NE Phase 1/2 clinical study of TK-8001, a TCR-T cell therapy for MAGE-A1 positive solid tumors, in Q4 2021
T-knife Therapeutics, Inc., a next-generation T-cell receptor company developing innovative therapeutics for solid tumor patients, today announced the successful completion of a $110 million Series B financing. The financing was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, LLC., with participation from other new investors including, Life Science Partners, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). Casdin Capital, Sixty Degree Capital, and CaaS Capital, along with existing investors RA Capital Management, Versant Ventures and Andera Partners.
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Proceeds from the financing will be used to expand T-knife’s world-class scientific team, increase manufacturing capacity, and advance its pipeline of innovative and differentiated T cell receptor therapies (TCR-T) cell therapies.
T-knife is leveraging its proprietary HuTCR transgenic mouse platform to discover and develop a portfolio of innovative TCR-T cell therapy programs to treat patients with solid tumor cancers. T-knife’s lead program, TK-8001, is a novel TCR-T product candidate targeting MAGE-A1 positive solid tumors. T-knife plans to begin enrolling patients in the TK-8001 IMAGE1NE Phase 1/2 clinical study in the fourth quarter of 2021 and is planning to file INDs / CTAs for additional product candidates in 2022.
The foundations for the technology were laid during decades of research by T-knife’s cofounder, Prof. Thomas Blankenstein, and his team at the MDC supported by Charité. Ascenion and the technology transfer team at the MDC have worked closely with Prof. Blankenstein over many years, securing patent protection for the invention, accompanying its development, and preparing and supporting the foundation of T-knife.
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