Scorpion Therapeutics, a US-based oncology company, has raised $150m in a Series C financing round to advance its clinical-stage precision oncology pipeline.
The funding round was jointly led by Frazier Life Sciences and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
It also received support from Willett Advisors and other healthcare institutional investors.
The financing round also saw participation from existing investors like Omega Funds, Atlas Venture, Vida Ventures, Abingworth, and Fidelity Management & Research, among others.
Scorpion Therapeutics intends to use the funds from this financing to further its pipeline of differentiated small molecule oncology programmes.
Specifically, the company aims to accelerate the clinical development of STX-478, an allosteric, mutant-selective PI3Kα inhibitor.
The oncology firm will also continue advancing its clinical-stage EGFR inhibitor franchise, encompassing STX-721 and STX-241.
Additionally, Scorpion Therapeutics plans to progress its discovery pipeline of next-generation precision oncology therapies.
STX-478 was developed to enhance outcomes for patients with PI3Kα mutations, a prevalent driver of cancer.
In preclinical models, the asset exhibited potent activity against various PI3Kα mutations while avoiding inhibition of wild-type PI3Kα in normal tissues.
It is being assessed in Phase 1/2 global, multi-centre, open-label clinical trial.
The study is evaluating the safety and tolerability of STX-478 in escalating doses among patients with locally advanced or metastatic HR+/HER2- breast cancer and other solid tumours driven by PI3Kα mutations.
The programme was started in 2023 and now includes multiple expansion cohorts focusing on different solid tumours.
Scorpion Therapeutics CEO Adam Friedman said: “The robust demand for this capital raise is a testament to Scorpion’s continued clinical execution, the strength of our emerging clinical data, and the quality of our rapidly advancing pipeline.
“We are pleased to strengthen the Company’s financial position and expand Scorpion’s existing blue-chip investor syndicate with these additional leaders in life sciences who share our commitment to improving outcomes for people living with cancer by broadening the reach and impact of precision medicines.”
