Frazier Life Sciences has launched Callio Therapeutics with $187 million in series A funds and a HER2-targeted dual-payload antibody-drug conjugate that’s ready for the clinic.
The ADC, and Callio’s wider oncology platform, have been licensed from Singapore’s Hummingbird Bioscience, which shares both a CEO with Callio and a number of the same financial backers, including Frazier. Callio didn’t divulge the financial details of that licensing agreement, only confirming it involved “equity, potential milestone payments and royalties.”
As well as launching Callio, Frazier led the series A round, which also included the likes of Jeito Capital, Novo Holdings, Omega Funds, ClavystBio, Platanus, Norwest, Pureos Bioventures, SEEDS Capital and EDBI.
Callio, which is headquartered in both Seattle and Singapore, is now focused on so-called “multi-payload” ADCs, meaning they can deliver multiple agents to tumor cells for maximum therapeutic benefit. As well as Hummingbird, other biotechs exploring the potential of dual payload ADCs include Adcoris, Sutro and CrossBridge.
“The multi-payload ADCs being developed at Callio Therapeutics have the potential to address large unmet medical needs by overcoming many of the limitations of existing ADCs,” said Adam Simpson, a venture partner at Frazier who is also the executive board chair of Callio.
“With the expertise of the Callio Therapeutics team, together with access to the innovative multi-payload ADC technology, we believe that Callio Therapeutics will be the first company to show the clinical benefit of this exciting new multi-payload ADC approach and is well positioned to transform cancer therapy,” Simpson added.
Top priority for the series A funds is to get that HER2-targeted dual-payload ADC into the clinic for a proof-of-concept study. Further back in development, Callio also has an undisclosed ADC program in the works.
“Multi-payload ADCs have the potential to enable the targeted delivery of rational drug combinations to cancer cells, and may provide significantly enhanced efficacy,” Callio’s co-founder and CEO Piers Ingram, Ph.D., said in a March 3 release.
“This new generation of ADC therapies may meaningfully improve outcomes for patients,” added Ingram, who is also CEO of Hummingbird.
Ingram will now be dedicating “the majority of his time to Callio,” according to a Callio spokesperson, who emphasized that the two biotechs are independently operated with different people overseeing their respective clinical development strategies.