Shoreline Biosciences, a California-based start-up specializing in iPSC-derived cellular immunotherapies for cancer and other serious diseases, announced it has completed an impressive $43M funding round. Founded in 2020 in La Jolla, CA, the company is developing a pipeline of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived NK cell and macrophage cell therapy product candidates. The company joins an impressive list of pioneers who are now forging the path toward iPSC-derived cell therapeutics.
Other market leaders involved with iPSC-derived cell therapeutics include Cynata Therapeutics, Fate Therapeutics, Treefrog Therapeutics, BlueRock Therapeutics (acquired by Bayer), Century Therapeutics, RheinCell Therapeutics, and a handful of others. Despite progress involving the use of iPSCs within disease modeling and drug discovery applications, we remain in the early staging of commercializing iPSC-derived cell types for use in human patients.
The company was founded last year by four leading cell therapy industry experts: Dan Kaufman, M.D., Ph.D.; Steven Holtzman; William Sandborn, M.D.; and Kleanthis G. Xanthopoulos, Ph.D.
Shoreline’s $43 Million Financing
Completed April 7, 2021, Shoreline Biosciences’ recent financing event was led by Boxer Capital, with participation from:
- BVF Partners L.P.
- Commodore Capital
- Cormorant Capital
- Janus Henderson Investors
- Logos Capital
- Kite, a Gilead company
- Stork Capital
- Wedbush Healthcare Partners
- Other smaller investors
According to the company, the proceeds from the financing will “allow Shoreline to accelerate the advancement of its proprietary iPSC platform focused on developing next generation NK cell and macrophage-cell therapies, while also supporting research efforts to create potent and persistent NK cell-specific Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CARs), switchable CAR-NK cell engagers and macrophage-specific CARs.”
Shoreline also announced a strategic relationship with the Advanced Cell Therapy Laboratory of UC San Diego. The partnership was established to facilitate reliable GMP manufacturing of Shoreline’s pipeline of iPSC-derived cellular immunotherapies.
To learn more about the globally expanding market for iPSCs, view the “Global Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPS Cell) Industry Report 2021.”
