Avammune Therapeutics and its subsidiary, Avammune Lifesciences, have raised $12 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Capital 2B, Shastra VC and Kotak Lifesciences Fund I. The round also saw participation from IvyCap Ventures and existing investor 1Crowd.
The fresh funds raised will be used to accelerate the development of its proprietary pipeline, which targets the innate immune system, to develop orally bioavailable small molecules and support the clinical development of lead candidate AVA-NP-695 (an ENPP1 inhibitor).
Founded in 2020 by Arun B. Papaiah, Srinivasan Namala, and Aditya Kulkarni, Avammune Therapeutics aims to develop orally bioavailable small molecules targeting the innate immune system for treating cancer and autoimmune disorders.
Formerly known as Straximm Therapeutics, Avammune was spun off from Bangalore-based Aten Porus Lifesciences in 2020.
Using small molecule to modulate natural immunity, Avammune is hoping it can treat cancers such as osteosarcoma, Ewing’s sarcoma, breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancers and several auto-immune disorders. The company’s lead drug candidate, AVA-NP-695, is a so-called ENPP1 inhibitor.
A key target of Avammune is the so-called STING pathway, a crucial component of the innate immune system, pointed out Namala, who is an Avammune director.
“This funding validates our extensive preclinical datasets and empowers us to accelerate the development of our lead program into the clinic for addressing critical unmet needs in oncology,” said Papaiah, co-founder of Avammune.
Aditya Kulkarni, Chief Scientific Officer, said, “The best-in-class profile of AVA-NP-695 combined with its strong antitumor activity in veterinary cancers in ‘compassionate use’ settings demonstrates a differentiated dataset in the field.”
“The best-in-class profile of AVA-NP-695 and its early data in hard-to-treat cancers make it a compelling candidate,” said Shastra VC partner Avijeet Alagathi.
