Lion TCR Raises US$20 Million In Series A Funding

The funds will be used to advance clinical trials of LioCyx™, Lion TCR’s T-cell therapy against hepatocellular carcinoma.

AsianScientist (Jun. 4, 2018) – Lion TCR Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based clinical stage biotech company, has raised US$20 million in its Series A financing round. The proceeds from this fundraising will be primarily used to advance its ongoing clinical trials of its lead candidate T-cell therapy LioCyxTM. The trials are being performed in major hospitals in Singapore and China.

Over one fifth of cancer in Asia is related to infection—primarily viral infection. For instance, in China, over 90 percent of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is related to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. There are more than 700,000 new cases of HCC every year, making it the world’s second most deadly cancer.

LioCyxTM, a personalized HBV-specific T-cell therapy against HCC, was first developed by Lion TCR’s scientific founder, Professor Antonio Bertoletti. Initial clinical trials of LioCyx™ for late stage HCC have produced encouraging results, where the treatment was shown to be safe and was effective in the treatment of HCC.

“This [financing round] is a recognition of the potential, versatility and uniqueness of Lion TCR’s novel virus-specific T-cell receptor technology platform and its product pipeline. It will allow us to accelerate the completion of Phase 1/2a clinical trial of LioCyxTM; to treat relapsed HCC cases post-liver transplantation and expand the therapy clinical trials for other indications of HCC,” said Dr. Victor Li, founder and CEO of Lion TCR.

Lion TCR also intends to broaden its products pipeline to fight virus-related solid tumors and better manage chronic HBV infection.

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Source: Lion TCR; Photo: Pixabay.
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