As it broadens the clinical ambitions for its small molecule oncology programs, Scorpion Therapeutics has secured $150 million in financial fuel.
The Boston-based biotech applies its drug-hunting platform to validated oncogenes to create small-molecule drug candidates against undruggable targets. The so-called “Precision Oncology 2.0” platform combines advances in genomic tools like CRISPR, medicinal chemistry and data capabilities such as chemical proteomics and supercomputing.
Top of the list when it comes to using the infusion of series C funds will be to “expand clinical development” of STX-478, an allosteric, differentiated, mutant-selective PI3Kα inhibitor that entered a phase 1 study for various solid tumors in May 2023. The program has “rapidly advanced,” Scorpion said Tuesday, with the drug being tested both as a monotherapy and in combination with CDK4/6 inhibitors and AstraZeneca’s breast cancer drug Faslodex.
Cash will also be earmarked for its EGFR inhibitor franchise. Last year, French pharma Pierre Fabre offered up to $553 million in biobucks to work with Scorpion on developing and potentially commercializing two of the preclinical lung cancer candidates at the front of this franchise.
Scorpion is still taking the lead in one of these, dubbed STX-721, which began a phase 1 trial in non-small cell lung cancer in October 2023. Pierre Fabre is guiding clinical activities on the other, called STX-241.
Frazier Life Sciences co-led today’s financing with Lightspeed Venture Partners. Frazier’s Managing Partner Albert Cha, M.D., Ph.D., and Lightspeed Partner Shelley Chu, M.D., Ph.D., will join Scorpion’s board as an observer and an investor board member, respectively.
The long roll call of other investors announced Tuesday included the likes of Omega Funds, Vida Ventures, Atlas Venture, Abingworth and OrbiMed.
“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,” Scorpion CEO Adam Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., said in a July 16 release.
“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,” Friedman added.