Tokyo, Japan and Cambridge, MA, USA, December 12, 2023 – Fast Track Initiative (FTI) is excited to announce its participation in Shinobi Therapeutics’ $51 million Series A financing round. This oversubscribed funding round was led by EQT Life Sciences, F-Prime Capital, and Eight Roads Ventures Japan. Shinobi will use the funds to advance its ‘Katana’ iPS-T cell therapy platform and progress its first program to treat GPC3+ solid tumor cancers toward the clinic.
Shinobi Therapeutics combines the decade’s long efforts in iPSC research pioneered by Shin Kaneko M.D., Ph.D., and developed by Yasumichi Hitoshi M.D., Ph.D. and Ryosuke Gonotsubo in Kyoto, Japan, with breakthrough immune evasion technology created by Tobias Deuse, M.D. in San Francisco. Carl June, M.D., a pioneer in CAR-T cell therapy has been appointed as a Scientific Advisory Board of Shinobi, who described “Shinobi’s Katana platform to have the potential to make CAR-T cell therapies accessible to patients on a global scale.”
Comment from Dan Kemp, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Shinobi Therapeutics:
“We are thrilled to have FTI join as a key investor for Shinobi. With a shared commitment to developing life-changing medicine, their presence aligns seamlessly with our operations in the US and Japan. We look forward to working closely with the entire FTI team.”
Comment from Koji Yasuda, Ph.D., Principal, FTI:
“We are delighted to support Shinobi’s journey in developing off-the-shelf immune-evasive iPSC-derived cell therapies on a global scale. Leveraging our expertise in executing strategic US-Japan cross-border initiatives, we look forward to working closely with Dan and the entire Shinobi team as they embark on their mission.”
Press release in English at Cision: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shinobi-therapeutics-launches-with-completion-of-51m-series-a-to-advance-hypoimmune-ips-t-cell-therapy-platform-302012188.html
Press release in English at Endpoints: https://endpts.com/exclusive-shinobi-raises-51m-to-take-on-cell-therapy-challenges-with-ex-wugen-ceo-at-helm-carl-june-in-support/
Press release in Japanese at PRTimes: https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000009.000096294.html
About Shinobi Therapeutics
Shinobi Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing a new class of off-the-shelf immune evasive iPSC-derived cell therapies. Based on the research of scientific co-founders Shin Kaneko, M.D., Ph.D., at Kyoto University and Tobias Deuse, M.D., at University of California, San Francisco, Shinobi has created a new allogeneic CD8αβ iPS-T cell platform that demonstrates comprehensive immune evasion from all arms of the immune system. For more information, please visit www.shinobitx.com.
About Fast Track Initiative
Established in 2004, Fast Track Initiative, Inc. (FTI) is a life science venture capital firm focusing its investments on early-stage startups with a strong focus on biotech and therapeutics. FTI has a strict mission to make a ground-breaking impact on the quality of our life and human wellness through investments across a broad range of areas in the life science community, including therapeutics, diagnostics, digital health, healthcare services, and more. The company provides valuable, hands-on support to its 30+ portfolio companies through business and R&D strategy, partnering, investor syndication, and more, including access to its network of professionals in Japan. Visit https://us.fasttrackinitiative.com for more details, or follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fast-track-initiative/
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