eFFECTOR Therapeutics, a five-year-old cancer drug developer, has raised $38.6 million in venture capital funding, the San Diego biotech company said Monday.
The series C round was led by new investor Pfizer Venture Investments. Also participating were new investor Alexandria Venture Investments and existing investors U.S. Venture Partners, Abingworth, Novartis Venture Fund, SR One, The Column Group, Altitude Life Science Ventures, Sectoral Asset Management, AbbVie Biotech Ventures, BioMed Ventures and Astellas Ventures.
The company’s technology modifies how proteins are manufactured according to instructions carried in DNA and the drugs it develops are called selective translation regulators, aimed at restoring normal function in processes that have gone awry in cancers.
The company said it plans to use the new funding to advance its Phase 2 (midstage) trial of eFFECTOR’s drug eFT508, encompassing a colorectal cancer study in combination with the immunotherapy drug avelumab, trade-named Bavencio.
Also, the funding will oversee the commencement of eFT508 candidate for solid tumors as well as proceed to bringing another drug into the clinic in 2018. This drug, eFT226, blocks translation of certain oncogenes, including MYC, BCL2, cyclin D1 and CDKs 4/6.
