IP Group and Penn Medicine have both returned to back a series A round for Carisma Therapeutics, the Pennsylvania spinout formerly known as Carma.
Carisma Therapeutics, a US-based immunotherapy developer spun out from University of Pennsylvania, closed a $53m series A round today that featured Penn Medicine, the university-owned health system.
Commercialisation firm IP Group also contributed to the round, which was co-led by AbbVie Ventures, the corporate venturing division of pharmaceutical firm AbbVie, and VC firm HealthCap.
Other investors included MRL Ventures Fund, operated by pharmaceutical company Merck & Co’s Merck Research Laboratories division, as well as Grazia Equity, Wellington Partners, TPG Biotech and Agent Capital.
Founded in 2016 as Carma Therapeutics, Carisma is working on immunotherapies that both kill targeted cancer cells directly and generate an adaptive immune response. The spinout is initially focusing on solid tumours and is aiming to launch clinical development in 2019.
The approach is based on research by co-founders Saar Gill, assistant professor of haematology-oncology in the Abramson Cancer Center, and Michael Klichinsky,…
