– USA, NY – Elevation Oncology, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of precision medicines for patients with genomically defined cancers, today announced a $65 million Series B financing led by venBio Partners and Cormorant Asset Management alongside Boxer Capital, Janus Henderson, Samsara Biocapital, and Vivo Capital, as well as existing investors, Aisling Capital, Vertex Ventures HC, Qiming Venture Partners USA, Driehaus Capital Management, and BVF Partners also participating in the financing.
Concurrent with the financing, Dr. Andrew Phillips, Ph.D. from Cormorant Asset Management, and Dr. Richard Gaster, MD, Ph.D. from venBio Partners will join the Board of Directors.
“The progress that Elevation Oncology has made in the short time since its founding to establish a strong scientific rationale and an accelerated development path for seribantumab in patients with tumors harboring an NRG1 gene fusion is quite impressive,” said Dr. Gaster, Partner at venBio. “We see the progress to date as indicative of Elevation Oncology’s long-term potential. I look forward to serving on Elevation’s Board of Directors as the Company continues to advance its mission to match unique genomic test results with a purpose-built precision medicine approach to enable an individualized treatment plan for each patient.”
“Elevation Oncology’s commitment to innovation across the drug development lifecycle has drawn a distinguished group of collaborators who are able to broadly conduct genomic testing across the US, rapidly open up clinical trial sites, and ensure exemplary execution of the CRESTONE study,” said Dr. Phillips, Managing Director at Cormorant. “I am very pleased to be joining the Company’s Board of Directors to support the continued and expanded application of these efforts towards the efficient acquisition, development, and approval of new therapeutics for patients with genomically defined cancers.”
The company also announced the promotion of founder Dr. Shawn Leland, PharmD, RPh, to CEO. He succeeds Steve Elms, Managing Partner of Aisling Capital, who was serving as Interim CEO of Elevation Oncology and will remain Chair of its Board of Directors.
“Shawn has been instrumental in the founding and success of Elevation Oncology to date,” said Board Chair, Steve. Elms. “On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, I express our great confidence in the future of Elevation Oncology under Shawn’s leadership. The proceeds raised with the Series B positions the Company well to deliver on our mission of developing precision therapeutics for patients with genomically defined cancers.”
“We welcome Andy and Rich to our Board of Directors and are encouraged by the support of a highly sophisticated investor group committed to helping us continue to pursue our mission,” said Dr. Shawn Leland.
He added: “At the core of Elevation Oncology is the belief that patients deserve the right clinical team and the right genomic tests to match the right therapeutics to the unique genomic profile of each tumor. We look forward to continuing to work closely with our Board and Scientific Advisors to innovate and accelerate the development of precision oncology therapeutics to realize this vision.”
Proceeds from the Series B financing will be used to fund the completion of enrollment in the CRESTONE study and other corporate development activities.
About Dr. Shawn Leland
Dr. Leland founded Elevation Oncology in July 2019, is a member of its Board of Directors, and previously served as the Company’s Chief Business Officer. He has over a decade of experience in medical affairs and business development for the pharmaceutical/biotech industry, with a focus on building collaborations to realize the full potential of targeted and personalized therapeutics. He has been involved in global transactions totaling more than $450 million in upfront payments and milestone payments at Eli Lilly, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Argos Therapeutics, and Verastem Oncology.
About Elevation Oncology
Elevation Oncology is founded on the belief that every patient with cancer deserves to know what is driving the growth of their disease and have access to therapeutics that can stop it. We make genomic tests actionable by selectively developing drugs to inhibit the specific alterations that have been identified as drivers of disease. Together with our peers, we work towards a future in which each unique test result can be matched with purpose-built precision medicine to enable an individualized treatment plan for each patient. Our lead candidate, seribantumab, inhibits tumor growth driven by NRG1 fusions and is currently being clinically tested in the Phase 2 CRESTONE study for patients with tumors of any origin that have an NRG1 fusion.
For more information: https://elevationoncology.com/
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