TP Therapeutics完成8千万美元夹层融资

美国时间2018年10月19日，总部位于美国圣地亚哥市的TP Therapeutics宣布完成8千万美元的夹层融资（mezzanine financing）。 本轮融资由Foresite Capital和venBio Partners共同领投。参与本轮融资的还包括新投资者HBM Healthcare Investments (Cayman) Ltd. 和Nextech Invest，以及现有投资者Cormorant Asset Management, 礼来亚洲基金, Orbimed Advisors 和SR One。

TP Therapeutics是一家处于临床阶段的精准癌症医疗公司，正在开发新一代激酶抑制剂，用于治疗对现有的激酶抑制剂产生抗药性的肿瘤。本轮融资将主要被用于推进其管线领头候选药物Repotrectinib（TPX-0005）。TP计划在2019年年初启动Repotrectinib针对ROS1阳性非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）和NTRK阳性实体瘤的二期临床试验。这有可能成为一个登录临床试验 (registration study)。TP还将使用部分资金进一步开发其药物管线中的其它项目。

Repotrectinib（TPX-0005）是一种口服型的ALK、ROS1和TRK家族激酶的小分子抑制剂。靶向ALK、ROS1或TRK的激酶抑制剂在临床的疗效已被证明，比如已被批准上市的治疗ALK+非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）的多种抑制剂，和治疗ROS1+ NSCLC的crizotinib。这类药物也包括处于临床阶段的针对TRK+癌症的larotrectinib和entrectinib。 但是在一些病人当中，肿瘤细胞通过基因突变产生了对这些药物的耐药性，从而限制了这些治疗方法的效果和应用。 

Repotrectinib则显示出对野生型和突变型的ALK，ROS1和TRK家族激酶的抑制效力，提供了阻断恶性实体瘤中这几类激酶异常信号传导的新武器，并有望克服难治性患者中出现的多种耐药机制。目前 Repotrectinib的安全性、耐受性、药代动力学和抗肿瘤活性正在通过一个多中心1/2期的临床试验进行评估。关于该试验的更多信息可通过登录www.clinicaltrials.gov查询（TRIDENT-1研究，编号NCT03093116）。

TP Therapeutics同时还宣布了公司领导团队的职责调整。之前担任CMO的 Athena Countouriotis医学博士现担任CEO一职。自公司成立以来一直担任董事长兼CEO的联合创始人李一山博士（Peter Li, PhD, MBA）出任TP Therapeutics Asia的负责人。TP的科学创始人崔景荣博士除继续担任President和 CSO外， 还兼任董事会主席。

更多信息，请阅读下面的英文新闻发布或点击文末的链接。

附英文新闻发布：

TP Therapeutics Completes $80 Million Mezzanine Financing Co-Led by Foresite Capital and venBio Partners

- Dr. Athena Countouriotis Promoted to Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Directors

- Dr. Peter Li Named Head of TP Therapeutics Asia

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TP Therapeutics, a clinical-stage precision oncology company developing novel drugs that address treatment resistance, today announced its completion of an $80 million round of mezzanine financing. Foresite Capital and venBio Partners led the investment syndicate, with participation from new investors HBM Healthcare Investments (Cayman) Ltd. and Nextech Invest. Also participating were existing investors including Cormorant Asset Management, Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV), Orbimed Advisors and SR One.

TP Therapeutics will use the proceeds to advance its lead product candidate, Repotrectinib (TPX-0005), into a Phase 2 potential registration study in early 2019 for ROS1-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and NTRK-positive solid tumors. The study will enroll patients who already have received a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) and have developed resistance or were refractory, as well as those who are TKI treatment-naïve. TP Therapeutics will also use a portion of the funds to further develop its internally discovered pipeline.

In conjunction with the financing, TP Therapeutics announced that Athena Countouriotis, M.D., has been promoted to chief executive officer from her previous role of chief medical officer. Dr. Countouriotis also has been named to the board of directors. Co-founder Peter Li, Ph.D., M.B.A., who has served as chairman and CEO since the company was founded, has transitioned into a new role as head of TP Therapeutics Asia. In this role, he will focus on building relationships with clinical investigators and partners to expand the potential for TP Therapeutics’ pipeline in this important global region. Jean Cui, Ph.D., co-founder, president and chief scientific officer, has assumed the role of chairman. In addition, the board has added two new directors: Brett Zbar, M.D., managing director at Foresite Capital, and Robert Adelman, M.D., managing partner of venBio Partners.

“Our team has made tremendous achievements in the discovery and development of truly novel medicines targeting oncogenic drivers in the five years since Jean and I founded TP Therapeutics,” said Dr. Li. “As we prepare for registration studies and move toward expanding our clinical pipeline, Athena is the right choice to lead our next chapter of growth. Her operational leadership and drug development experience are highly complementary with Jean and have shown to resonate both with our employees and investors.”

Dr. Countouriotis joined TP Therapeutics in May 2018 as chief medical officer and executive vice president. Athena has broad oncology biotech leadership experience guiding multiple development programs through to market approval. She previously served as senior vice president and chief medical officer at Adverum Biotechnologies, and prior to that served in the same role at Halozyme Therapeutics. Additionally, she served as chief medical officer at Ambit Biosciences, leading the development of Quizartinib through the company’s initial public offering and acquisition by Daiichi Sankyo. Dr. Countouriotis also worked at Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb in various clinical development roles for Sutent®, Mylotarg®, Bosulif®, and Sprycel®.

“I am honored to have the trust of our founders and our board as TP Therapeutics moves even closer to the patients it seeks to serve,” said Dr. Countouriotis. “With the completion of the mezzanine financing, we are well funded to execute on our clinical and preclinical programs. I am pleased we have attracted this top-tier syndicate of investors.”

Dr. Zbar commented: “TP Therapeutics has made great progress in the development of Repotrectinib, evidenced by the highly encouraging interim Phase 1 data presented recently at the World Conference on Lung Cancer. Targeted oncology is an area of focus for us, and the Foresite Capital team welcomes the opportunity to work closely with Athena again in her expanded leadership role.”

Dr. Adelman added: “From the early discovery research to Phase 1 clinical development, the team at TP Therapeutics has been thoughtful in its approach to develop a truly differentiated therapy with potential to address some of the most difficult kinase fusions and their mutations. We look forward to working with Athena and the management team to advance Repotrectinib into the Phase 2 clinical study and ultimately build on its early success with the other novel assets in TP Therapeutics’ pipeline.”

About TP Therapeutics Inc.

TP Therapeutics is a clinical-stage precision oncology company forging a new path for targeted cancer care. Founded in October 2013 by Dr. J. Jean Cui, the lead inventor of Pfizer’s oncology drugs crizotinib and lorlatinib, the company is developing a pipeline of novel drugs that aim to tackle treatment resistance and give new hope to patients who have stopped responding to available targeted therapies. Mounting clinical data for the company’s lead program, a next-generation kinase inhibitor targeting genetic drivers of non-small cell lung cancer and advanced solid tumors, has shown ongoing antitumor activity and durable responses among treatment-naïve and pre-treated patients. With additional programs underway to address similarly intractable oncogenic drivers, TP Therapeutics is marking a turning point in the way solid-tumor cancers are treated. For more information, visit www.tptherapeutics.com.

About Repotrectinib (TPX-0005)

Repotrectinib (TPX-0005) is a potent and orally bioavailable investigational small-molecule inhibitor of ALK, ROS1 and TRK family kinases. The clinical benefits of targeting ALK, ROS1 or TRK fusion kinases have been demonstrated with multiple kinase inhibitors already approved for the treatment of ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), in addition to crizotinib for ROS1+ NSCLC, and larotrectinib and entrectinib in clinical studies for TRK+ cancers. The successes of these therapies are overshadowed by the development of acquired resistance. The acquired solvent front mutations including ALK G1202R, ROS1 G2032R, TRKA G595R and TRKC G623R render a common clinical resistance to the current ALK, ROS1, and TRK inhibitors.

Repotrectinib has demonstrated potency against wildtype and mutated ALK, ROS1 and TRK family kinases, especially the clinically significant solvent front mutations, gatekeeper mutations, and emerging compound mutations after multiple lines of treatment. Repotrectinib may provide a new opportunity to inhibit the abnormal signaling of ALK, ROS1, or TRK family kinases in solid malignancies, and overcome multiple resistance mechanisms seen in refractory patients. Repotrectinib is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1/2, open-label, multi-center, first-in-human study of the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and anti-tumor activity in patients with advanced solid tumors harboring ALK, ROS1, or NTRK1-3 rearrangements (TRIDENT-1 study, www.clinicaltrials.gov number NCT03093116). Interested patients and physicians can contact the TP Therapeutics Oncology Clinical Trial Hotline at 1-858-276-0005 or email [e-mail].

About Foresite Capital

Foresite Capital is a multi-stage healthcare and life sciences investment firm with $2.2 billion in assets under management. The firm aims to address areas of great unmet medical need by funding and supporting promising healthcare and life sciences businesses with transformative products and services at all stages of their life cycles. Foresite Capital takes a collaborative approach to investing with its portfolio companies by providing a multidisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, analysts, and clinicians who understand the unique business models in healthcare. Foresite Capital is based in San Francisco with an office in New York. For more information, please visit www.foresitecapital.com.

About venBio

venBio is a life sciences investment firm that partners with industry leaders to build and invest in innovative medicines and technologies, with a focus on novel therapeutics for unmet medical needs. See: www.venbio.com.

Contacts

TP Therapeutics Investor and Media Contact:
Canale Communications
Jason Spark, 619-849-6005
[e-mail]

参考资料：

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181019005080/en/TP-Therapeutics-Completes-80-Million-Mezzanine-Financing （官方新闻发布）

http://www.tptherapeutics.com/ （TP官网）

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