Imvaq Therapeutics Corp., an innovative cancer immunotherapy company founded by world-leading researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), announced the closing of its $15 million Series B financing. The company is developing novel viral-based, armed immune-stimulating therapies to treat a variety of solid tumors including skin cancers, sarcoma, as well as hard-to-treat tumors such as triple-negative breast cancer. The Series B financing was led by Hanne Capital, joined by existing Series A investors. Imvaq has raised over $25 million in capital to date and these funds will enable the company to catalyze the Phase 1 clinical development of its first therapeutic candidate MQ710, a novel 2nd-generation viral immunotherapy based on armed Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA), and to advance additional novel assets in its pipeline.

"Imvaq's Vaccinia Immunotherapy Platform (VIP)TM offers many advantages. It has the largest transgene insertion capacity compared to the leading viral therapy platforms such as HSV or adenovirus. It also has the most extensive species safety record with millions of successful vaccinations using live Vaccinia virus and MVA over several decades. Additionally, Imvaq has developed a proprietary cGAS/STING screen used to eliminate the major immune evasion and suppression genes in vaccinia that blunt the effectiveness to therapy," explained Dr. John Choi, CEO and co-founder of Imvaq Therapeutics. "Ultimately, every physician's mission is to provide cancer patients with the most effective treatments to cure or control their disease while minimizing unwanted effects."

"We are truly impressed with Imvaq's founding team and management who have deep expertise in virology, biologics, and clinical oncology. Its lead program in next-generation oncolytic-virus therapeutics has generated solid preclinical data and demonstrated promising clinical potential," said Dr. John Jin, Founding Partner at Hanne Capital. "We are delighted to help bring life-saving cancer therapies to those patients in critical need, and very pleased to help the company accomplish this vision globally."

In addition to filing its IND and starting its Phase 1 clinical trials for MQ710, the Series B capital will also support the company's continuing pipeline development. Imvaq is currently developing two vaccinia-based platforms including oncolytic vaccinia and non-oncolytic MVA virus strains that are armed with multiple immuno-stimulatory transgenes that maximize anti-tumor response via both single agent therapy and combinations with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

About Imvaq Therapeutics

Imvaq Therapeutics is an innovative cancer immunotherapy company founded by world-leading researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The company is developing novel viral-based, armed immune-stimulating therapies to treat a variety of metastatic solid tumors including skin cancers, sarcoma, as well as hard-to-treat tumors such as triple-negative breast cancer.

About Hanne Capital

Hanne Capital is a global healthcare venture capital fund founded in 2017 by senior industry veterans from leading private equity funds and world-renowned multinationals in biotech, pharma and medtech. Historically the Founding Partners have deployed over US$350 million into a dozen companies, most of which have successfully listed on major stock exchanges in China, US and Hong Kong with a collective market capitalization of over US$6 billion. With an investment focus on Immuno-Oncology, Hanne Capital since its inception has invested in emerging technologies such as oncolytic virus, single B-cell profiling-based mAb discovery, tumor neoantigens, therapeutic vaccines, etc., all of which have the potential to become the next generation of IO therapies.

MSK Disclosure:

MSK has institutional financial interests related to Imvaq in the form of intellectual property rights and associated interests by virtue of licensing agreements between MSK and Imvaq.