Asher Bio Raises $108m For Immune Cell-Specific Therapies

Series B Follows $55m Series A Round In March

 
• By Mandy Jackson
  
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With a CD8-targeting IL-2 mutein as its lead program, the start-up is developing cis-targeted immunotherapies that selectively target two molecules on the same immune cell for improved efficacy and safety.

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Asher Bio will use its funding to take lead program AB248 into the clinic • Source: Alamy

Asher Biotherapeutics, Inc. aims to get around the problem of pleiotropy – engagement of a target across a variety of cells in the body, causing unintended side effects – by developing cell-targeted immunotherapies that engage two targets on the same immune cell. The company said on 1 September that it closed a $108m series B venture capital round to advance AB248, an interleukin-2 (IL-2) mutein targeting CD8-positive T-cells, into the clinic and to progress additional programs.

South San Francisco-based Asher Bio has an initial focus on cancer with plans to also develop cell-, or cis-targeted, immunotherapies...

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