Shinobi Therapeutics, the biotechnology company developing a new class of immune evasive iPS cell therapies, today announced that it has been awarded up to $59M in non-dilutive grant funding by the Japanese Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED). The grant will be used to support the development of Shinobi’s lead program, an iPS-T cell therapy targeting GPC3+ solid tumor cancers.
“AMED is one of the leading institutions worldwide for supporting breakthroughs in medicine and biotechnology, and this grant is a significant vote of confidence in Shinobi’s technology,” said Yasumichi Hitoshi, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of Staff and Shinobi Japan’s Representative Director. “We are thrilled to have the support of AMED as we work toward realizing the therapeutic potential of iPSCs.”
Shinobi also announced an extension of its Series A round, bringing the company’s total funding to $119M, with the addition of Yosemite and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital as investors.
Cell therapies have successfully been used to treat blood cancers and other intractable diseases, but manufacturing costs continue to render these therapies inaccessible to many patients around the world. Shinobi’s immune evasive iPS-T cell technology, built upon a decade of research by scientific co-founders Tobias Deuse, M.D. and Shin Kaneko, M.D., Ph.D., enables a new class of off-the-shelf cell therapies that work with, not against, the patient’s immune system.
Shinobi was recently recognized by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as being at the forefront of innovative cancer drug development. This recognition highlights Shinobi’s role in bridging Japanese biotech startups with U.S. and global venture capital ecosystems.
“iPS cell therapies have the potential to transform patient care across a wide range of diseases while improving access in populations with high unmet needs, and much of the most exciting work in the field is happening in Japan,” said Dan Kemp, Ph.D., CEO at Shinobi. “This AMED grant is a major statement of conviction by the Japanese agency and will help accelerate our lead oncology program toward the clinic.”
The company has also recently cemented partnerships with Panasonic around scaled manufacturing and Anocca for TCR discovery and development.
