An Ottawa-based startup working on treatments that use the body’s immune system to target cancer, COVID-19 and other diseases has landed millions of dollars in financing to ratchet up its research efforts.
Orion Biotechnology’s new series-A round worth US$11.5 million is being led by Keiretsu Forum, a global syndicate of angel investors headquartered in San Francisco.
The new funding will help the firm expand its clinical trials of drug candidates produced by its proprietary platform that targets G-protein coupled receptors, or GPCRs, which play a key role in diseases such as cancer, HIV and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) associated with the virus that causes COVID-19.