Stellanova Therapeutics Closes $15.5M Series A Financing Round
The round was led by Sporos Bioventures.
The company intends to use the funds to advance its lead antibody asset to first-in-human clinical trials for oncology, establish its discovery platform, and build its team.
Led by Rosa Hwang, M.D., co-founder, Stellanova is focused on targeting the many pro-tumorigenic effects enabled by the activity of carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (known as CAFs) in the tumor microenvironment. CAFs play essential roles in promoting cancer growth and metastasis, spurring angiogenesis, suppressing anti-tumor immunity, and fostering chemoresistance. The company’s lead antibody candidate is designed to neutralize DKK3, a factor secreted by CAFs that acts on neighboring cancer cells and immune cells to promote tumor progression and therapy resistance. In pre-clinical studies, treatment with anti-DKK3 monoclonal antibody and immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy has produced sustained tumor eradication in mouse models of pancreatic cancer which is refractory to current chemo or immune therapies.