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RTW backs Kyverna

RTW Venture Fund has announced that it participated in an $85m Series B funding round for Kyverna Therapeutics, Inc. on 26 January. RTW invested alongside other investment vehicles of RTW Investments, LP (the investment manager) as well as other investors.

Kyverna is a privately held cell therapy company engineering a new class of therapies for serious autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

The Kyverna therapeutic platform combines advanced T-cell engineering and synthetic biology technologies to suppress or eliminate the autoreactive immune cells at the origin of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. In addition to developing next-generation chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies in both autologous and allogeneic settings, Kyverna is creating synReg T cells, a synthetic version of Regulatory T cells (Tregs), powerful natural immune cells that control the balance of the immune system through multiple immunosuppressive mechanisms. By offering more than one mechanism for taming autoimmunity, Kyverna is positioned to transform how autoimmune diseases are treated.

Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance its lead asset, KYV-101, an autologous version of a novel clinical-stage anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) construct with properties uniquely suited for use in B cell-driven autoimmune diseases such as lupus nephritis, systemic sclerosis, and inflammatory myopathies. Kyverna has obtained exclusive, worldwide licenses from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to use this novel CD19 construct in both autologous and allogeneic CAR-T-cell therapies. Kyverna intends to advance KYV-101 into clinical development for autoimmune diseases in the first half of 2022.

Consistent with a recently announced licensing and collaboration agreement between Kyverna and Intellia Therapeutics, the financing proceeds will also be used to support the development of KYV-201, an investigational candidate .

Proceeds from the financing will also support the continued development of Kyverna’s synReg T-cell platform, engineering a synthetic version of Regulatory T cells (Tregs) by reprogramming T cells into CAR-Treg cells. Kyverna has established a strategic collaboration and license agreement with Gilead to develop engineered T-cell therapies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases based on Kyverna’s synReg T-cell platform and synNotch technology from Kite, a Gilead Company.

RTW : RTW backs Kyverna

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